Stage 01 (The Banishers Part 1)
by Tgonthefiery
Summary: 10 years after her father's death, Charlotte Stillwater moves back to her home in Hurricane, Utah. Influenced by the person who killed her friend Michael, Charlotte adopts her new identity as the vigilante Springtrap, using her knowledge of springlocks to bring criminals to justice. As foes and allies rise and fall, Charlotte begins to realise her childhood nightmares were real.
1. The Mechanical Bear

Chapter 1

The Mechanical Bear

 _Pitter, patter, pitter, patter._

Charlotte Stillwater watched, mesmerised as the rain splatted onto the windscreen of the car. She smiled absentmindedly as she passed a familiar sign on the road.

 **Welcome to Hurricane, Utah.**

Familiar sights came and went as she drove, a movie theatre, a library, the house of an old friend. But there was one place which caught her eye. Freddy Fazbear's Pizza, the best thing which she could remember about her childhood.

 **xXx**

 _She watched happily as 3 anthropomorphic animals performed on stage. There was Freddy Fazbear, the leader of the group. He was a brown bear with blue eyes, wearing a black top hat and bowtie, and held a microphone in his right hand, which he sung into enthusiastically. Next was Bonnie the bunny, a purple rabbit with pink eyes, strumming a glistening red guitar in his paws. Then there was Chica the chicken. She wore a bib which said "Let's Eat!" and held a pink cupcake on a platter with her left hand, which stared creepily at the audience. And Charlotte, or Charlie as her friends called her, knew that in another room on a small stage, there was a red pirate fox named Foxy, who entertained the kids by himself just as much as the 3 combined on the main stage._

 _It was a beautiful thing, really, to know that her father had been the one to create all of this, the animal mascots, the voices which came from them, and the company itself. This was where she was most at home. Her paradise._

 **xXx**

But then again… it was also the worst part. Almost. There was something else, something worse. Way, way worse.

 **xXx**

 _Aunt Jen carried Charlie, covering her eyes as she hurried through the room. But she could still see. The dark red pool of blood, steadily spreading against the wooden floorboards. Her father's body, completely still. And the robot, holding the bloodstained knife._

 _She was already old enough to understand that it wasn't the robot's fault. Her father had done this, on purpose. But she didn't know why. And she never would._

 **xXx**

Aunt Jen had taken her away after that, away from Hurricane. She had never seen it again, not until now. Hadn't even passed by. But now, she was back, moving into her old house.

She didn't even know why, to be honest. Nostalgia's sake, perhaps? But whatever her reason was, she was here now. That was all that mattered.

Her eyes broke away from the main road as the memory ended abruptly, towards the ominous shape of her old house, which seemed to overshadow the other, almost insignificant houses by comparison of size. The peeling paint didn't really help either, just adding to the list of unwelcoming things about the old house.

She shook her head as she pulled into the driveway, the sound of tyres crunching against the gravel snapping her out of her momentary mind blank.

 _This isn't about memories, or the good times. This is about your future._

She hesitantly pulled the rusty keys out of the pocket of her jeans, noticing the small sparkles that poked through the grime, and smiled a little. Just a little.

 _It's time to leave the past behind. And to do that, I have to face it._

She opened the car door, playing with a strand of her long brown hair as she got out. She walked up the creaky wooden steps, and placed her hand against the door.

 _Come on then. Open the door._

Slowly, she inserted the key into the keyhole, and turned it.

 _Creak…_

Slowly, the door creaked open, showing a dark hallway, lined with red carpet. Charlie took a deep breath, and slowly walked down the dimly lit corridor, placing her hand onto a familiar light switch. Holding her breath, she flicked it on, and the light, despite its age, surprisingly flickered to life, brightening the hallway. She strode past the basement door and the kitchen, her eyes fixed on a creaky wooden staircase ahead of her.

However, as she passed the living room, she had to stop herself. For some reason, the light in the living room had never worked. Every time her father had changed the light, even if it was brand new, it had always refused to work in that one room, and had even been deemed irreparable. It was almost as if the house had known beforehand what was going to happen in that room…

Her eyes were instantly drawn to the dark stain on the floor. It no longer spread, but it would still continue to haunt her. Forever.

She sighed and walked up the stairs, dragging her left hand against the wall as she did so, causing small flakes of paint to fall to the floor. She slowed her pace as she neared the door at the top of the stairs. Her old bedroom door.

 _If you're going to live here, you need to try and leave the past behind._

Hesitantly, she turned the doorknob, so that the wooden door swung open, with surprising speed. She smiled as she was greeted by her old, childhood toys, even if they were now rusty and decomposed.

First there was Theodore, a purple rabbit with a red bowtie, who sat on a chair beside the window. But his colour was now faded to a dull grey, thanks to the constant rays of sunlight. Then there was Stanley, a mechanical unicorn. He went around Charlie's room on a small track, like a train. His face was now rusted off. Finally, when Charlie turned a small wheel by her bed, a doll named Ella would come out of her small closet, carrying a tray as if preparing for a tea party.

Charlie sighed as she recalled her happy childhood memories. She sat down, tired on the bed, picking Stanley up from his track and stroking him gently.

 _Things will never be the same._

Slowly, she placed Stanley back down on his track, and patted him on the head.

"Stay there." She whispered softly, before springing up and heading down the stairs. She would have to leave the memories for later. For now, she just needed to see an old friend.

 **xXx**

As Charlie stood in front of the house, seeing Jessica again suddenly seemed like a bad idea. It had been 10 years since they had last met, 10 years since the incident, 10 years since Michael. In fact, she hadn't even told Jessica that she was coming.

 _Well, you're already here. You might as well._

Without hesitation, she pressed the doorbell, then instantly regretted it when the ding sounded, and footsteps were heard approaching the door.

As the door opened, a familiar looking face popped out.

"Hello?" Jessica said, as she poked her head out from behind the door. "Can I help you…?" Charlie rolled her eyes and grinned.

"You don't remember me, Jessica?" She asked, smiling. Jessica frowned momentarily. "Uh…" Suddenly, her eyes widened. "Oh. My. God. Charlie? Oh my god, Charlie!" She yelled, running out and giving her old friend a hug.

"Oh, god. Jessica, give me a break." Charlie groaned, though she was still grinning.

"I can't." She laughed happily, before releasing Charlie. "I haven't seen you for like, 15 years!"

"10, actually." Charlie corrected. "Yeah, well, whatever." Jessica tossed back her ponytail, before motioning towards the inside of her house. "Come on."

"Things have been… different." Jessica muttered as Charlie stepped in hesitantly. "After you left, the others followed." She sighed and sat down into a red armchair. "Now there's only me and Marla. And Jason, if you want to count him." Charlie sat down opposite her, a serious expression on her face.

"If you don't mind me asking…" Charlie started. Jessica looked up curiously. "What?" "What happened to Freddy's?" Suddenly, Jessica's expression darkened. "They…" She shook her head. "After you left, the place got…well, new owners. But no one came, because of, well, you know. Michael." Charlie nodded, a feeling of sorrow overcoming her. "So it was closed down, again. To this day, it's still been there. People say that the place is… cursed. No one was brave enough to demolish it. We all felt like we had to let the memory… live. In honour of the dead."

Charlie smiled and stared down.

"That's…" She looked up at Jessica. "That's good." Jessica smiled.

"I guess."

Charlie stood up.

"Well this had been nice." Jessica grinned.

"Yeah." Charlie looked at the door. "I would stay longer, but…" She turned back towards Jessica. "I need to see the place one more time, you know?" Jessica stared at her, at first appearing surprised, but then her gaze went back to normal. "Of course. I understand." Charlie smiled, and then began heading back towards the door.

"Actually…" She spun around, confused. Jessica looked at her nervously. "Can I come with you?" Charlie looked at her curiously.

"Why…?" Jessica sighed quietly. "I never got to go there myself, you know? I wanted to, but there was no way I was going alone. So when everyone else left, and Marla refused… I guess this is just my chance to go too." Charlie nodded. "Right. Ok, you can come." Jessica smiled. "Thank you."

 **xXx**

Silence. That was all. There were no cars which passed by this part of town, and there was no reason why there would be. The only building on this road was Freddy Fazbear's Pizza, and it had been abandoned for a long time. This road was the penultimate example of desolation.

Charlie and Jessica stood on the doorstep of the abandoned pizzeria. The cracks in the concrete were so large, they could place her foot into a few of them.

"Well, are you ready?" Charlie asked Jessica, who nodded nervously.

"Absolutely." The latter lied weakly. Charlie gave Jessica a look of pity, before opening the surprisingly unlocked front door, and walking into the unending darkness.

She smiled instantly as she saw 3 animal mascots on the stage. They might have been deactivated, but they were still here. All 3 were slumped down, facing the ground, like they were dead, though that could not be possible. They were machines, and machines didn't die, because they never lived. Charlie walked up to Freddy and squatted down so that it seemed that he was looking at her.

"Hi Freddy." She said calmly. "Remember me?" But the bear didn't reply. He just stood there, his forever smiling face still shining, but really, there was no emotion in his gaze. It was a blank slate, something to be drawn on, but it would never really mean anything.

She smiled as she stood up. She turned towards Jessica, who was slowly trailing behind her, and looking around in wonder.

"Are you alright?" Charlie asked.

"Oh, me?" Jessica answered, as if snapping out of a dream. "Yeah, I'm fine. It's just that it's been such a long time, and I didn't even realise." Charlie smiled as she walked away from the main stage "15 years really does fly, huh? Well, I'm going to check Pirate's Cove. You coming?" "Uh yeah." Jessica said, taking one last look at Freddy before running off to follow Charlie.

The latter was just making her way down a short hallway, which led to a smaller stage, called Pirate's Cove. But it had almost never been open. For the first 5 days, it was bustling with children. But after that, for no obvious reason, it had been deemed out of order. She could still see the small, wooden sign.

Now, the sign was lying, dejected on the ground. It lay at the centre of a puddle of cold water, which no longer rippled. And behind there was a familiar purple curtain, dotted with stars.

"After all this time…" Jessica muttered. "I guess it's officially out of order now, huh?" Charlie sighed. "Yeah." She stepped up to the stage, Jessica still behind her. "But I kind of want to see him." Jessica froze. "Hold up… Foxy?" Charlie nodded. "Alright…" Jessica muttered reluctantly. Charlie reached out with one hand, and grasped the old curtain, preparing to pull it. However, as she was about to tug at the mouldy fabric, a new feeling overtook her mind.

"Actually…" She pulled her hand away from the curtain. "I think that Foxy kind of wants to stay by himself tonight.

"Whew." Jessica was unable to hide her relief. "We should go." Charlie muttered. "Before the memories beat us there." Jessica seemed unable to understand the sentence, but she nodded anyway, obviously eager to leave.

Jessica led the way back to the entrance. Charlie followed behind, not wanting to be left behind. But when she turned back to look at Freddy one last time, that was when it happened. Earlier, all 3 of the mascots had been slumped down in their deactivated positions, obviously not having been used for a long time. But now, there were only 2. Freddy was now standing properly, as if he was entertaining children again. It would have almost seemed natural, if not for the surreal glow in his eyes, like pupils. And both were staring directly at her, their gaze un-breaking.

"Charlie! Are you coming?" Jessica asked.

"Wh-What?" Charlie stuttered, now panicking as she whipped around. "Y-You don't see-" She was shocked when she turned around. Freddy was back in his slumped position. Slowly, her breathing composed itself. "Sorry. I thought I saw something." She said. "Right, okay." Jessica replied. "Um, then let's go." It was then that Charlie noticed the small pool of water at Freddy's feet, and the glowing dots reflected in them. Slowly, panic began to take control of her body again. "Right. We need to go." She moved so quickly to get out that the collided with Jessica and skidded to a stop before her car.

"Charlie, are you alright?" Jessica asked her, concern in her voice. Charlie shook her head and looked up, scared, at Jessica as she used the car to support herself.

"I don't know."

 **xXx**

After that, Charlie was silent. Jessica had to drive her back home, and when they got there, Charlie stepped out of the car without a word, not even a goodbye or thank you. Jessica continued to watch her until she entered the house, before driving off herself.

Charlie shivered as she stepped into the house. But instead of heading up to her bedroom, she instead went left, taking the stairs down to her basement.

She slowly sat down and booted up her computer, which she had placed there previously. She knew all about the murders of Freddy Fazbear's Pizza. They were the only thing which still haunted her a tonight. All she didn't know was who had done. However, as the search results came up, she knew who had.

William Afton, her father's business partner. The police had everything. Everything to prove him guilty, except for one thing. There were no bodies. The dead children were nowhere to be found, and so their murderer got away. But now she knew where they were.

Charlie pulled up a picture of the man. He looked innocent, like a lot of people. But only she knew that he wasn't. He was a sick, sadistic and horrible person, and the very same man who had killed one of her best friends.

She placed her palm against the screen, her eyes filled with hate.

"One day, I swear, if you haven't already, you will get what you deserve."


	2. The Man in the Mask

**Well, hopefully you're enjoying this fic, guys.**

 **Here's where the main story starts to come in.**

 **I just want to say that TLAC: TR may not be continued, due to Scott confirming William being in Springtrap.**

 **I may come back to 4th Wall one day. who knows?**

 **For the meantime, enjoy this new story.**

 **Stay awesome, guys.**

Chapter 2

A Man in the Mask

Childhood nightmares had possibly been the worst part of life for Charlie. Every day, her worst fear was the thought of going back to bed, and closing her eyes. No matter what, the nightmares always struck. It was always her last moments with Michael. The animatronics were going wild on the stage, as if trying to get free. They were all watching. For most of them, they couldn't understand. But Charlie could. This was them, malfunctioning. There was nothing alive about them. They were machines, and they would forever be that way.

Someone, probably Michael, tapped her on the shoulder. But she didn't turn around. She didn't want to. So she stayed, fixed to the spot, watching as the animatronics continued to cry out their lifeless pleas for help. Suddenly, the machines stopped. They were lifeless, like always. Just dumb machines. She turned around, expecting to be met by a crowd of confused faces, yearning for an explanation, but instead there was only shock, and silence. Michael was gone.

 **xXx**

Charlie shivered as she drove, not taking her eyes off the road. It was a cold morning, and in her hurry, she'd forgotten a jacket.

She wasn't even sure whether going after Michael's murderer was a good idea. She had been so eager for vengeance, she hadn't even stopped to think about the consequences.

 _I could end up dead. Or worse, my friends could._

Shaking off her doubts, she focused her intent on finding Afton.

She stopped as she spotted the house she was looking for. The outside was painted a bright blue, and she suspected the inside was the same. The curtains were all shut, as if trying to hide something inside, in this case, a psychotic mass murderer.

Charlie stepped out of the car and walked up to the door, determination in her stride. Taking a deep breath, she rang the doorbell.

 _Ding dong ding dong!_

At first, silence followed. Then, heavy footsteps began to sound.

 _Thump, thump, thump._

They were slow at first, but they began to rapidly increase pace.

 _Thump, thump, thump thump thumpthumpthumpthump._

The door opened, and there stood a young man, probably around Charlie's age. But what she was surprised to see was that he almost looked like an older version of… Michael.

"Hi, can I help you with something?" He asked calmly.

"Um, I'm looking for William Afton." She said. Suddenly, his expression darkened. "I think it would be better to discuss this inside." He said. "Yeah." She muttered. "Maybe."

She stepped through the doorway, the man watching her as she passed.

"Please, sit." He said, motioning towards 2 chairs and a table in between. Charlie slowly sat down, the man opposite her.

"My name's Michael Afton." He said, pointing to himself. Charlie froze.

 _Michael._

"William Afton was my… dad." Charlie frowned as he said 'was'.

"What happened to him?" She asked him thoughtfully. He looked at her strangely, as if trying to figure out her intentions. "Sorry, but I can't tell you that." He muttered, looking down. "Hey listen." Charlie said, causing Michael to look up at her again. "Your dad murdered one of my best friends at _my_ father's establishment. I need to know what happened to him." He stared into her eyes, seeing the desperation in her eyes. "You're Charlotte. Dad's partner's daughter." She nodded. "Alright." He muttered. "I'll tell you what happened. I…" He looked at Charlie again, and let out "I killed him." Charlie was shocked.

 _I killed him._

Had he really just said that?

"…How?" She asked, desperate to know more.

"You know how springlock suits work, right?" He asked her. She nodded, urging him to continue. "Well whenever he killed, he did it while wearing a springlock suit. Specifically, the Spring Bonnie suit. You know, the golden bunny." Charlie nodded. "From Fredbear's." "Exactly. There was only the head of the costume left, but once I saw what he was doing, I had to do something. So I shoved the head of the costume onto him, and I tripped the locks. He bled out after that."

Charlie was silent. So, Afton was already dead.

"Was that all you came for, or-"

"Yeah." Charlie cut him off. "Thanks a lot." She stood up, intending to leave. "But before you go…" He stood up and went into another room, and began to rummage through some boxes.

"There." He pulled out a green, decaying rabbit head, with empty eye holes. Charlie froze when she saw the head.

"Is that…" "The original Spring Bonnie head." He finished. "Listen, I would really appreciate it if you'd… take it." Charlie looked at the head, then back at Michael. He sighed. "Listen, I know it might be weird, but knowing that this thing isn't my house, the thing that I used to kill my dad… it would help me a lot. Mentally." Charlie stared at the mask, at the hollow eyes. "You realise that the person who wore that mask not only killed one of my best friends, but also my brother?" Michael's expression wavered a little, before almost rewinding. "But you're not the one who used it."

 _He's right._

She sighed.

"Ok." She said reluctantly. Michael's face relaxed a bit as she said that.

"Thank you." She shrugged as he handed the mask to her. "Whatever you do with it…" Michael started. "Don't repeat my father's mistakes. Put it to good use." She nodded. "I will." With that, she strode out the door, leaving Michael alone again.

Click _._

 **xXx**

Back in her basement, Charlie closely examined the mask. This was the weapon used to kill 6 children and a grown adult. First trust, then just bloodshed. She sighed as she peered on the inside of the mask. Sure enough, there were 2 springlocks near the base of the neck. She flicked one of them, and they both snapped down.

"Sheesh." She muttered. She brought the mask up to her eyes. "You are one dangerous piece of fabric." She said to it casually. The mask didn't reply, nor did it look back. It just stayed still. "Though I do wonder…" She placed the mask over her head. "What you feel like."

The inside of the mask was surprisingly soft, and actually comfortable. But all her thoughts were focused only on the 2 springlocks near the nape of her neck. She breathed calmly, trying to think about how William would have felt, killing under the constant pressure of possibly dying.

 _"Quite the experience, isn't it?"_

Charlie staggered back, almost triggering the locks.

 _Crap._

"Who are you?" She said, trying to remain calm, but her panic escaped into her voice.

 _"I'm the one you've been looking for."_

She didn't understand at first, but then…

"William?"

 _"It took you a while."_

"How the hell are you here?" She muttered.

 _"I possessed the mask."_

"Of course." She muttered. "Perfect. The guy who killed Michael and Sammy is currently inside my head."

 _"I'm sorry about your friends, by the way."_

"What?" Charlie muttered, unable to believe what she was hearing.

 _"If I could, I'd reverse what I've done. But I can't."_

"That's your own fault." Charlie growled.

 _"I know. All of this is my fault. But… I can't fix the past."_

"No crap." Charlie muttered. "No one can."

 _"But maybe you can fix the future."_

Charlie frowned. Did he mean…

 _"There are heaps of people out there who are like me. They'll kill to get what they want. But stopping them… that would really fix the future."_

"So you want me to fix the future?" Charlie asked him.

 _"Yes."_

"Sorry, but…" Charlie shook her head. "You're probably just trying to influence me so that I'll continue your killing spree, right?'

 _"No, that's not it!"_

"Goodbye." Charlie said, throwing the mask off her head, triggering the locks. She rolled her eyes. "Idiot." But as she was about to head out of the basement, her eyes were drawn back to the mask. "But maybe I want to hear more." She muttered. In one swift movement, she grabbed the mask and stuffed it in her bag. "You're coming with me." She growled as she climbed up the stairs. "I mean, I really don't want to eat dinner alone."

 **xXx**

"Thanks." Charlie grinned as she walked out of the restaurant, her stomach filled with food. "Ah." She headed down a familiar street alley, where she knew her car was.

"Sup." A tall man was leaning against the wall of the alley.

"Uh…" Charlie stopped walking. She had a bad feeling about this. "What's a pretty lady like you doing down here?" He asked, beginning to walk towards her. "Um, my car's parked over there." She said. "So, would you let me past?" "Of course." He said, grinning. Charlie froze as he pulled a switch blade out of his pocket.

"If you'll give me some money." She stared at him, then down at her bag.

 _Put it to good use._

"O-Okay." She stammered, and zipped open her bag, pretending to look for money.

"Good, good good." The man said, taking out the blade. Finally, her hand felt the familiar grasp of rotting fabric.

"YA!" Charlie yelled, pulling the head out of the bag, and jamming it onto her assailant's head.

"What the hell?!" He yelled, trying to pull it off. She smiled as she watched him struggle. "I would stop that if I were you." She told him. "Are you crazy?" He screamed.

 _Click._

"Yeah, pretty much." She muttered as the springlocks struck, making 2, crescent shaped cuts in his neck. He fell to his knees as blood began seeping out of the open wounds, gushing onto the floor. The man stared up at her with frightened eyes, before his head fell, limp, against the floor.

Charlie felt a new part of herself, one she had never felt before. Slowly, she removed the mask from the man's head. When she got inside her car, she placed the mask on.

"William? I'm in."

 **xXx**

Charlie spun around in her chair, trying to clear her mind.

"How am I supposed to do this? I mean, I can't just go around fighting criminals with my face on display. What if someone sees me?"

 _"Wear the mask."_

"How do you expect me to…" Charlie searched for a way to explain her point. "Kill under the pressure of being killed by yourself?"

 _"You don't need to have the springlocks there. They can be removed."_

Charlie sighed. "And what about killing? How do I kill without the springlocks?"

 _"Make your own weapons. Your father made robots. Surely you understand some of the logic."_

Charlie opened her eyes. "You're right." In the corner of her eye, she could see a box of spare parts which her father had never used. "I can make my own weapons."

 **xXx**

 _Bang!_

A hole appeared in the ground of a street alley, shaking the very foundations of the surrounding buildings. A blue duffel bag, filled with money, was thrown out, landing in the alley, and was followed by several duplicates.

A man began to climb out of the hole, wearing a white mask, which covered his face. Once he was out, he helped up 6 other men, all armed with guns.

"C'mon, we gotta go!" One of them yelled. One of them stood against a wall, his body slumped.

"Hey man, what's wrong with you?" Another one yelled. When he didn't look up, the other man grabbed him by the neck, and pulled him up, before yelping and jumping back.

The man was already dead. There was a knife stabbed into his stomach, which was lodged into the wall, keeping him in place.

"What the hell?!"

 _Squish._

They turned around to see another one of their comrades headless, his head having landed in a puddle of forward.

"Get the money and run!" The men grabbed the bags and started to run out of the alley, but stopped when they saw a shadow blocking the way. On its head were 2 rabbit ears, one of which was torn in half. Instead of a regular human body, it possessed a bloody steel ribcage. And in its right hand… there was a sword. The edges of it were lined with several springlocks, and there was a wide split down the middle of the blade, which ended at a barrel, like one of a gun.

"Who are you?" One of them yelled.

"Justice." It muttered, surprising them all when a girl's voice rang out from its direction. "For an old friend."

 _Slash!_

The figure sliced off the head of one of the men before any of them could react.

"Get her!" They all fired their guns at her, which she easily dodged, before impaling one of them with her sword, and placing some kind of device on another's head. The device expanded until it covered the man's head, before springlocks went wild, shredding it and cutting his scream short.

"Ah!" The next man tried to attack her with a knife, but she easily disarmed him, before throwing him into a dumpster, his head getting chopped off by the closing lid. She chuckled, grabbing the next man by the neck and throwing him down the hole, bashing his skull in. She then raised the sword and pointed it at the last man, a twinkle in her eye.

"No, please." He muttered, backing away slowly. "Please, show me some mercy."

"I am." She whispered. "By giving you a quick death." The barrel of the sword began to glow. "Say goodbye."

 _Shing!_

Slowly, the body of the man hit the floor, the expression of shock from his last moments frozen on his face. There was a now a small indentation in his forehead, from the bullet she had shot at him. Blood gushed relentlessly out of the open wound. But she already knew that despite the blood, the man dead.

She turned as she heard sirens approaching.

"William." She muttered. "I'm coming home." Springs and cogs began to spin, and before the single flashlight swept the area, she jumped off into the moonlight, racing home.

 **xXx**

"Now the police know that there's a vigilante running around." Charlie muttered, sitting down, back in her basement, the mask still on her head.

 _"Indeed. I have to thank you, Charlie."_

"No need." She said dismissively. "This is what I want to do, after all. But it'll be weird if they start referring to me as something like "The Vigilante". That's really lame. And unoriginal."

 _"I think I have a name for you."_

"What would that be?"

 _"Springtrap."_


	3. The Mangle

**It should be noted that the following chapters require extensive knowledge of Five Nights at Freddy's for a better understanding of the story.**

Chapter 3

The Mangle

"I see you've improved your system." A man said quietly, to a red haired woman. Both were sitting at a table in a restaurant.

"I had to though." She sighed. "I am the only one left." She played with her food, jabbing her knife into her steak repeatedly. "But I suppose we had it coming." She murmured. "I was a fool to think that our actions would not have consequences." The man rested his chin on his hands, watching the woman intently. "But I expect that you will still carry out our deal." She looked at him seriously in the eyes. "That depends on whether I'm alive tomorrow."

The man rolled his eyes and leaned back.

"What do you really expect to kill you? The others were fools. You are smarter." She looked at him in the eyes.

"But whoever targeted them… they were targeting the whole gang. It wasn't coincidence. Someone is looking for me right now. Looking for revenge. For all I know, they could be outside the door, waiting for me to come out. And the moment I do…" She slid a finger across her throat. "Mortem. Death."

The man smiled.

"If only it were that easy." He stood up from the table, and walked out the door. "Thank you for the dinner. I will see you tomorrow." She sighed as he walked out, closing the door behind him. She already knew that she wouldn't see tomorrow. The moment she walked out the door, she would doom herself. But it was what she deserved, after all her kills.

She sighed as she stood up from the table, and walked out the door, preparing to embrace her death.

 **xXx**

Hidden among the rooftops, a shadowy figure watched as Heather Cyrus exited the restaurant. They could already sense the fear pouring out of her heart. But she was going to join her friends how bad could that be?

On their head they were a helm shaped like the head of a fox. None of their human body was visible, for it was covered with heavy machinery. And on their fingers were slim, silver claws, long enough to penetrate a human body. They were set to kill, and they were willing.

Slowly, they descended from the rooftops, using their clawed hands to grasp onto the sides of the buildings.

"Heather Cyrus." They growled, their voice distorted. She turned around, seemingly unfazed by the towering figure before her.

"I knew you would come." She muttered. "Of course. But my real question…" They extended their claws, which flashed in the moonlight. "Is whether you're ready to join your friends, in heaven or hell?" Heather laughed quietly. "I know why they call you The Mangle." The Mangle, as they were called, drew back a little. "Answer the question." Heather looked the killer in the eyes. "Not without a fight."

Suddenly, metal began to sprout from her shoulder, twisting and turning till it covered her whole arm, leaving no human flesh, and a deadly metal claw. The Mangle's eyes flashed with enthusiasm.

"Your challenge is accepted." The Mangle raised both their hands, and their clawed paws flew out at Heather, still attached to her metal exoskeleton by thin, but sturdy wires. The sharp projectiles barely missed Heather, before withdrawing back to their slots.

"Nice try." She breathed, before lunging forward and swinging her claw at The Mangle, who side stepped the blow, before slamming her on the back with her bladed tail, causing her to fall to the ground.

"A quick fight." The Mangle muttered. "And easy, too. But enjoyable." She grabbed Heather's neck. "And now you face death itself."

"So be it." Heather gasped for breath. "I deserve it." The Mangle growled as she said that. "Yes… you do."

"Stop!" A third voice rung out, coming from the rooftops. The Mangle growled as a bullet hit them in the chest, causing them to drop Heather, who sputtered like a fish out of water.

"You." The Mangle growled as they spotted Springtrap on a nearby rooftop. The rotting bunny jumped down onto the street, her eyes glowing.

"You need to stop this now." She muttered. The Mangle stared at her curiously.

"What's your goal here? To stop me from killing her?!" They yelled, pointing at Heather, who was still lying on the ground. "She has already given in to me." She said, her voice filled with something, not pride, or anger. "As will you."

The Mangle lased out with both hands, both of which Springtrap blocked with her sword.

"I see you're more experienced than her." The Mangle said, now grinning inside the helm. "But no matter. We are all just humans. And as long as you're human…" They raised their hands and shot them up to the rooftops. "You can die." They grabbed Heather, before they were pulled up to the rooftop by their claws.

"No!" Springtrap yelled as they saw The Mangle and Heather silhouetted against the moonlit sky. The Mangle grabbed Heather, and closed their iron jaw around her forehead, where her frontal lobe would be. The Mangle's left eye looked at Springtrap, and she could suddenly tell that inside, whoever The Mangle was, they were smiling. Happily.

 _Crunch!_

The noise seemed to hang there for a moment. Springtrap stared in shock, as she saw Heather's body, now covered with her own blood. The Mangle dropped the body and looked at Springtrap, a glint of madness in their eye.

"I'm done here." They muttered. "The killing has stopped." They raced off into the shadows of night, leaving Springtrap to decipher their message.

 _The killing has stopped._

 **xXx**

"William."

 _"Hm?"_

"Can you possess a computer?"

 _"Yes… why?"_

"I need you to find out any connections between the victims of The Mangle."

 _"Sure. I can do that."_

"Good." Charlie leaned back in her chair, staring at the ceiling. "I wonder who they were targeting… They did say that the killing would stop."

 _"I've found a link."_

"Already?" Charlie muttered, standing up and walking over to the computer.

 _"All victims were members of the Freakshow gang, a group of misfits who commonly used to have gang fights with another gang known as The Children of the Masks. All victims were found without a frontal lobe. Thus the killer was named The Mangle, due to the animatronic at Freddy Fazbear's Pizza, who removed someone's frontal lobe in an event known as The Bite of 87."_

Charlie froze.

 _"Charlie?"_

"I think I know who The Mangle is." She said.

 _"You think so?"_

"Pray that I'm wrong."

 **xXx**

 _Knock! Knock!_

 _"Dad?" Charlie said. "Someone's outside."_

 _"Huh?" Her father muttered, his face buried behind a newspaper. "Open the door if you want." He said, smiling. "Ok." Charlie muttered, grabbing the door handle and pulling it open._

 _Jessica fell in, screaming in pain. A huge chunk was missing from her forehead, and it was bleeding nonstop._

 _"DAD!" Charlie yelled. "It's Jessica!" Her father looked up, then rushed forward and dragged Jessica into the house._

 _"You're gonna be ok." He muttered. "You'll be ok."_

 **xXx**

"She went to the hospital after that." Charlie muttered. "They found out that she'd lost her frontal lobe, and that she'd been caught in the crossfire of a gang fight, between the Freakshow gang and The Children of the Mask."

 _"How does she still act normal? She lost her frontal lobe…"_

"She pretends to be normal." Charlie sighed. "Truthfully, she observes the way people act, and she copies them. She needs an example to act off of."

 _"Charlie."_

"I can't believe she's The Mangle…" Charlie muttered.

 _"Charlie!"_

"She's killing for vengeance." She said.

 _"Charlie, there's going to be another killing. Like Freddy's."_

Charlie perked up at that.

"What?"

 _"Trust me, you won't be able to stop this on your own. Jessica can help you, if she's really The Mangle."_

"I know she is."

 _"Then ask her to help you. I killed as well Charlie. But the one thing I missed was the cameras. I found him, but he's armed and dangerous. You're going to need her."_

Charlie sighed and began to walk up the stairs.

 _"May I suggest something?"_

"Sure."

 _"Take the serum."_

Charlie frowned and looked back at her desk. On it lay 5 syringes, each with a strange liquid in it.

"I don't think it's ready."

 _"Trust me, it is."_

"…alright." She grabbed one of the syringes, and raced upstairs.

 **xXx**

Charlie rang the Jessica's doorbell, and waited impatiently. Jessica poked her head out.

"Oh, hey Charlie." She grinned.

"Jessica." Charlie said urgently. "I need your help." Jessica frowned. "Sure. What do you need?" "There's going to be another killing. Like Freddy's." Jessica's eyes widened. "What?!" She said. "Yeah." Charlie muttered. "It's happening. Again." Suddenly, Jessica narrowed her eyes. "But why come to me? Why not the police?"

"Because I know you're The Mangle." Jessica froze. "I know you've been seeking revenge all these years. I know that you've been killing off the members of the Freakshow Gang. And I know that you're the person who I saw kill that woman last night." Jessica stared at her, shock in her eyes.

"You're Springtrap." She murmured. "Yeah." Charlie said nonchalantly.

Sighing, Jessica turned around. "What do you want me to do?" Charlie smiled. "This person… we both know that if they succeed, they'll be getting a life sentence." Jessica nodded. "But he deserves more than that." Jessica frowned. "You want to kill him." Charlie nodded. "How do you plan to do that?" Jessica asked, facing Charlie again. "We can't just stroll in there and shoot someone in the head. You know that, right?" Charlie nodded. "But when Michael got killed, he was lured into a backroom. So will these kids." Jessica nodded. "So we just need to kill him when he's in the room." Charlie smiled. "Glad you understand. Do you need to get your stuff or…?" "I've got it on me." Jessica said, smiling. Charlie grinned back. "Me too."

 **xXx**

"This place is pretty busy." Jessica exclaimed as the two walked through the crowd of people, some eating talking, and some just children running around.

"Yup." Charlie muttered.

 _"He's the guy in the monkey head."_

"Thanks." Charlie whispered back.

"Who was that?" Jessica asked. Charlie shrugged. "Uh… my informant." "Right." Jessica eyed her weirdly. "How do we know who he is?" "He's wearing a monkey head." Charlie said. "Pretty hard to miss him." "Right. Still using costumes to lure kids. Brilliant."

"There." Charlie said, pointing at a man in a monkey head, talking to a group of 5 kids.

"We need to stop him." Jessica muttered, as the man started leading the children away to a hallway.

"Come on." Charlie growled, following him, Jessica right behind her.

The moment they were out of public view, Charlie pressed a button on her neck, and the Springtrap suit began to meld with her body, covering her until the only parts of her body visible were her eyes. Jessica whistled.

"Sweet." She then pressed a button her arm, and her gear came on, swiftly clacking over her arms, until the Mangle head closed over her. "Let's go." They both raced off to the room where they knew a few children might get butchered very, very soon.

 **xXx**

"Just wait, I have a surprise for you." The man said, his face invisible thanks to the monkey head. "It'll be fun, I promise." The children laughed and clapped their hands, eager to see the surprise. Suddenly, they screamed when the man pulled a knife out of his pocket and raised it above his head. "For me, anyway."

 _Bang!_

The man dropped the knife, which clattered loudly as it hit the ground. He gasped as he looked down at the gaping hole in his chest.

"You should have realised your actions would have consequences." Charlie growled as she stepped into the room, Jessica behind her.

"Run." The latter said to the children. "Get help." They ran off, oblivious as to what was about to happen.

"You don't know who you're messing with." The man growled, clutching his chest. "Oh, I do." Charlie tilted her head to one side, staring at him intently. "You're a man. And as long as you're a man…" Jessica picked him up by his neck. "You can die." She threw him hard against the wall, making a loud cracking sound. However, he managed to stand up again, a mad twinkle in his eye.

"This'll be fun." He chuckled, pulling out 2 more knives and throwing them, though they both missed. "A good fight." He lunged towards them, holding a heavy butchers knife.

 _Slash!_

Jessica jumped back as he slashed the air in front of her. Charlie grabbed his hand as he lunged, and threw the knife away.

"You're not hurting anyone." Charlie growled, pulling out the syringe. The man tried to back himself up against the wall.

"What is that gonna do?" He whimpered. Charlie smiled sadistically. "It's gonna send you someplace better." She grinned and injected the serum into the man, causing him to scream out in pain. "Say goodnight." She muttered as she and Jessica walked out, ignoring the man's screams.

"So that stuff is gonna kill him?" Jessica asked Charlie as they walked out the restaurant. "No, the fire will." She said. "Fire? What f-" Jessica was cut off by the fire alarm coming from the building. Jessica looked at Charlie. "You set it on fire?" Charlie smirked. "The serum did."

Jessica grabbed Charlie's arm roughly.

"You better tell me what's going on." Charlie pulled back.

"When we get home." "Fine." Jessica rolled her eyes as they headed back to the house, ignoring the burning building behind them.

 **xXx**

After the building was finally put out, the police went into the building. At first, they thought they had found nothing. That the fire had been an accident. But then they checked the backroom, and found not only an extremely burnt corpse, but also 3, almost ineligible words scrawled on the wall, with the knife used to carve them still embedded into the wall.

JUSTICE FOR MICHAEL


	4. Paper Mache

**Hey guys, Tgonthefiery here!**

 **So here's the 4th Chapter of Stage 01.**

 **This is where we start introducing the true villains of this story.**

 **Anyways, enjoy guys!**

Chapter 4

Paper Mache

"You still want revenge, don't you?" It was an irrelevant question, but it was one Charlie'd been longing to ask for a while. Jessica looked up at her, anger in her eyes.

"You know revenge is the reason I started this, right?" She said bitterly. "But I don't know how I'm supposed to continue. I mean, they're all dead." Charlie shook her head. "Not all of them." Jessica narrowed her eyes. "What do you mean?" Charlie leaned forward. "You know that there were 2 gangs that night, right?" Jessica frowned. "The Freakshows were the only reason The Children of the Masks shot their bullets." Charlie shook her head. "Actually… They were aiming at you." She pulled up an image on her computer, showing a middle aged man with brown hair.

"This man right here… they call him Ennard. He's the one who shot the bullet at you." Jessica frowned and took the picture.

"I think I saw him that night." She murmured. She looked at Charlie. "How do you know he shot it?" Charlie frowned. "When I was younger, the injury looked like an accident. But looking back at it now… the shot was just too perfect. It was right in the middle of your forehead. And he's the only one with the skills to pull off a shot like that."

Jessica looked down at Ennard again. "Do you know where he is?" Charlie shook her head.

"I know where he will be, though. I listened in on his phone calls…" She pulled up a map on her computer, and placed her finger on a greenish building on the outskirts of town. "He and his team are going to be doing a drug deal, tonight at Fazbear's Fright, some horror attraction based off of Freddy's."

Jessica leaned over her shoulder.

"I've heard of that place. They said it was burnt to the ground." Charlie nodded.

"Well that was a lie." Jessica frowned. "Who's the guy they're dealing with?" Charlie pulled up another picture, this time of 5 people wearing paper plates with faces drawn on them. "The Paper Faces. No one knows their real identity. They're regular suppliers of cocaine and marijuana." Jessica frowned as she looked at the faces. "They look creepy." "Yup. And their names are dumb, too. Mache Bear, Soggy Bunny, Paper Chick, Pulpy Fox and Plate Kid." Jessica frowned. "I feel like they're based off of Freddy's." "They are. Fazbear's Fright is their regular location for deals." Jessica smiled. "Well I guess we'll be stopping one tonight."

 **xXx**

"Ennard, good to see you my friend." Mache Bear said, shaking Ennard's hand.

"Likewise." He nodded. "I trust that you have what I asked for." Mache Bear nodded. "Of course. And I trust that your friends will not shoot me where I stand." Ennard laughed, eyeing the people standing behind him. "Stand down, guys." They all reluctantly took a few steps back, one man and 3 women.

"Now…" Mache Bear pulled out a deteriorating Freddy head, stuffed with bags. "In this head is what you asked for." Ennard looked through the contents, before looking up, satisfied. "I believe the agreed amount was… 1200 dollars cash, correct?" "Yes." Mache Bear nodded.

 **xXx**

"If you don't mind, I'd like to have it now." Charlie listened quietly behind a fake wall as Ennard and Mache Bear had their exchange. She tapped her earpiece.

"Mangle, you there?" Jessica smiled as she watched the exchange from the shadows, brandishing her sharp claws.

"Mangle is a go." She whispered back. "Alright. Who's the unfortunate victim this time?" Jessica eyed each person present at the scene, then said "Paper Chick. Her neck's exposed." "Nice." Charlie whispered back.

"87 seconds from now." Jessica said over the comms. Charlie waited patiently as Mache Bear and Ennard finished their exchange. "Now." Charlie flung open the door, catching Paper Chick and holding one hand over her mouth as Jessica threw her in. Without hesitation, she injected the serum through her neck.

"Sweet dreams." She whispered, before running out the door.

"Did you get her?" Jessica asked her as they ran out the building.

"Yeah." She said back. "61 seconds from now, the building will burn."

 **xXx**

"Well, I appreciate your efforts to fulfil out requests." Ennard said, handing Mache Bear the agreed amount of money.

"Of course." He replied, placing the money in his wallet.

"Boss, boss!" Soggy Bunny suddenly yelled. "What?" Mache Bear asked, frowning. "You know I'm doing business right now, right?" "But the building is burning!" He yelled. Both Mache Bear and Ennard turned towards him. "What?" "And also…" He held up a burnt paper plate resembling a chicken. "Paper Chick is dead." Mache Bear stared at him, an expression of shock showing through the eyeholes of his mask.

"She was burnt in the fire." Plate Kid growled.

 _Crash!_

A huge section of the ceiling fell down next to them, completely enveloped in red hot flames, and crushing Pulpy Fox.

"We need to move now!" The group of equally confused criminals began to run from the constantly rising flames, trying their best to put as much distance between them and the blazing inferno as possible.

"Ack!" A large crack appeared in the ceiling, causing several stones to fall through, bludgeoning 2 of Ennard's crew to death.

"Sh*t!" He cursed bitterly, his anger beginning to overtake his common sense. He stumbled forward blindly, ignoring the shouting people behind him, and sometimes striding through massive flames, rather than finding a safer route. At this point, he was hell-bent on killing whoever had set the fire.

"Ennard! Ennard!" At first he ignored the voice, but as the panicking cries persisted, he forced himself to turn back, only to see both of his remaining friends being enveloped by the burning flames.

"No!" He began to panic, seeing things which were not there. Faces swam out of the walls, begging for him to set them free. Props and ornaments reached out with burning, flailing limbs, calling for help. But right now, every fibre of his being was focused on getting out of this hellhole. He had to live. For them.

"Gah!" He burst out the door, his clothes still flaming. Mache Bear, Soggy Bunny and Plate Kid followed closely behind him. He looked back at the burning building, ignoring how his clothes were still smouldering, and burning him badly.

"No…" He fell to his knees, his head resting in his hands. "No…" Mache Bear stared at Fazbear's Fright, speechless. "How could this happen?!" Ennard, growled, furious. "HOW could THIS HAPPEN?!" He grabbed Mache Bear, who seemed to be staring at something. "WHAT DID YOU DO?! WHAT DID YOU DO?!" Mache Bear quivered, before pointing silently at something behind Ennard. He frowned turning around, and realised that he was pointing at the Fazbear's Fright sign. But it looked different this time. And he immediately realised why. There was something else scrawled over the sign, something far more sinister.

JUSTICE FOR MICHAEL.

 **xXx**

"So they're dead." Jessica said quietly. Charlie nodded.

"Yeah." Jessica sat back in her chair, and stared at the grey ceiling. "Thank you." Charlie smiled, at this, leaning against the wall. "No problem." Jessica looked at her friend curiously. "What now?" Charlie shrugged. "You wanted revenge, and you got it. I'm clearing up the actions of Michael's killer. You can just do what you want at this rate. But as for me…" She glanced at the battered rabbit head, the rotting fabric revealing rusty metal. "I still have work to do."

Jessica stood up and faced her.

"Then let me help you." Charlie raised an eyebrow.

"Why though? You don't want to live normally?" Jessica frowned. "It's not that, it's just… Charlie, did you even bother to check the rate of crime before you came here? Because it's not under 1% anymore." Charlie looked at her nonchalantly. "I'm aware of that. I don't know the exact number, but it's clearly obvious that crime has increased." Jessica rolled her eyes. "Charlie, these days crime is literally at least over 96%." Charlie's eyes widened. "Seriously?" Jessica nodded. Charlie frowned. "That doesn't seem natural. Hurricane is so remote, I just can't imagine why anyone would… you know." Jessica laughed, shaking her head. "You really haven't scoped the place out yet, have you? Town is bigger these days than it was back then. At least 1.5 times the original size. The crime is high. But I can help you. You said you were trying to correct the mistakes of Michael's killer. You can't take me out of this one. Michael was my friend too. Please." Charlie hesitated for a moment, as if trying to decide which was louder, the angel or the demon. Finally, she let out a hesitant "Ok."

Jessica smiled.

"But first…" Charlie picked up the Springtrap mask off the desk. "I think you need to talk to the man." Instantly, Jessica froze.

"What do you mean?" Charlie shrugged, disarming the springlocks in order to make the mask less dangerous. "Just put it on." "Ok…" Jessica grabbed the mask and pulled it over her head.

 _"Hello."_

Jessica froze as she heard the voice in her head.

"Who are you?" She asked.

 _"My name is William Afton. Pleased to meet you."_

Jessica gulped. "Did you…"

 _"Yes… I killed your friend Michael. I'm sorry, but that can't be reversed."_

Jessica growled, now beginning to feel angry. "What do you want?"

 _"I want to make amends for my actions. And I know I can't turn back now… but maybe I can stop more incidents from happening."_

Jessica scoffed. "How the hell do you expect to do that?"

 _"You friend Charlotte has been acting on my behalf."_

Jessica glanced at Charlie, who shrugged. "You can hear him?" She asked. Charlie simply shrugged again.

 _"And I must say, I'm extremely grateful to both of you for stopping that murder at the restaurant."_

Jessica was shocked. "You were Charlie's source?"

 _"…Yes."_

Jessica looked at Charlie, who was staring at the mask intently.

"I think that's enough." She tugged the mask off her head and threw it to Charlie, who caught it. "How long have you been talking to that freak?" Jessica asked her. "Sh." Charlie pointed at the head. "He can still hear you." Jessica frowned. "Just tell me." Charlie shrugged. "Literally just before I took up Springtrap." Jessica frowned. "If you still want to help me Jessica, you're gonna have to get used to working closely with this guy." Jessica looked down, her mind trying to disentangle the knots which had just formed in her mind. "Uh…" She looked at Charlie. "I think I can deal with it." Charlie smiled. "That's good."

 **xXx**

Ennard was silent as he travelled down the elevator. All his friends were dead. All because of that goddamn vigilante. Springtrap. He gently stroked the left side of his face, feeling the burnt, malformed skin and flesh. That fire had not only killed 6 people, but it had also burnt his face. His once handsome face, now gone and replaced by this… monster.

The elevator opened up, revealing an ominously lit hallway, flashing green lights barely illuminating the long walkway. To the sides there were large glass windows, some sporting huge claw marks resembling those of bears. He clenched his hand into a fist, feeling the disfigured lumps of flesh clash together. Finally he reached the end of the hallway, revealing another room, also li by green lights, but there was a huge fan on the wall opposite him, as well as several decorative props, some of mini ballerinas, others of clowns, and even 3 clay heads in the corner, one which could see, another which could hear and another which could talk. However, his attention was drawn to a large white clown mask which hung over the fan.

A green and yellow party hat was attached to the head, and its bright red nose shone with polish. He jumped up and grabbed the mask, pulling it down towards him. Holding it in his hands, he placed it over his face.

Reaching up and stroking his face again, instead of the malformed skin, he only felt smooth, hard plastic. He smiled to himself, and walked back towards the elevator, ignoring the cries which now rang out from behind the windows. His grin now stuck on his face, he pressed the up button on the elevator, the doors sliding open. Adjusting his mask, he looked up at the ceiling, grinning like a maniac. Whoever this vigilante was… they would pay. For his friends, for the Freakshows… and for his face.


	5. No Mercy

**Well, here we go. We're well into the main story now!**

 **Enjoy the chapter!**

 **But first...**

 **To ian25rebel: Thanks :) Well, only certain characters appear in this story. They may appear in sequels, but the plot for this story is fixed. Also, Jessica is Mangle, so yeah that's a toy animatronic.**

 **Well, enjoy this chapter guys!**

Chapter 5

No Mercy

Ennard walked silently, his feet making barely any noise as they touched the floor. He ignored the huge number of puddles which were lain out randomly on the floor of the alleyway.

"You like the shadows, don't you?" He asked to no one in particular. He knew that the 3 remaining Paper Faces were here somewhere, but not their exact location. His eyes swept across the alley, the spotted a shadow crouching behind a dumpster. He smiled gleefully, jumping onto the dumpster and grabbing Soggy Bunny by the neck.

"You need to work on your hiding skills." He muttered, dropping the bunny masked man.

"I see you wear a mask." Soggy Bunny observed. "Something we share in common, it seems." Ennard commented dryly. "And I don't believe that's a good thing."

He raised his twisted hand, reaching up and grasping the white mask which hung over his face, whisking it off to reveal his disfigured flesh.

"That b*tch killed my friends _and_ permanently destroyed my face. I will kill her."

"How do you know it's a she?" Plate Kid asked as he stepped out of the shadows. Ennard made a tutting noise, before saying "I did research. There were originally 2 people who had access to the cursed suit which she wears. One of them is dead, and so is all his family, except his son. And I've watched him for a few days. He stays in his house, never venturing outside. The other, his name is Henry Stillwater. His daughter Charlotte is the only one alive in his family. She's the only one who could know about the suit's existence."

"You knew." Mache Bear pointed out as he dropped down from the buildings.

"But you see, the suit was hidden. Only a member of the Stillwater would know where it was. I don't know where it was originally kept."

"So you are certain of the identity of Springtrap?" Soggy Bunny asked. "Almost." Ennard muttered. "Tonight, I'm going to carry out a final test, which will determine who Springtrap is."

"What kind of test?" Plate Kid asked curiously. Ennard smiled at him, clacking his teeth. "Wouldn't you like to know…"

 **xXx**

"You seem stressed." Charlie observed as Jessica walked through the front door of the house, looking like a complete wreck. She shrugged nonchalantly.

"I mean, I just slit the throat of some guy who was trying to rape someone." Charlie stared at her, bewildered by her attitude. "Ok…" She started trudging down to the basement.

"People seemed happy about Fazbear's Fright." Charlie said, booting up her computer. "Less drugs in the general area."

"Watcha got there?" Jessica asked, peeking over her shoulder and curiously observing the colourful display on the screen.

"Remember how I used that serum to set those guys on fire?" Charlie asked. "Well, this is going to do the opposite. Basically, change fire into water. It rearranges the atoms, protons and neutrons, bla bla bla." She rolled back in her chair.

"Anything interesting come up?" Jessica shook her head.

"Not that I'm aware of." Charlie sighed and grasped the remote of the basement TV, flipping the ON button.

Suddenly, the screen was filled up by a white clown mask. Jessica stared in shock.

"What the-?"

"Hello Hurricane." He said, his voice hysterical. "Glad to see you're all joining us." He moved slightly to the left, revealing a girl around Charlie's age, whimpering in the corner with her hands bound in front of her. "If I get no response from the vigilante known as Springtrap, regarding their identity, as well as The Mangle, within the next two minutes… I will kill this girl."

Charlie glanced slowly at Jessica, who stared back.

"The number is on the screen." He said, a series of digits appearing in front of his face, as well as the girl in the corner. However, her face was still visible, and Charlie was starting to realise that she had met her before.

"You ever seen her before?" Charlie asked Jessica. Jessica narrowed her eyes at the screen, focusing on the girl's face. She glanced at Charlie.

"It's Miranda. That bloody jerk from school." Charlie stared back at the girl, now cowering in the corner, knowing she would die. "Are you sure?" She asked. Jessica nodded. "She completely embarrassed me in Year 8. Everyone called me a freaking slut for the next 3 years." Charlie looked back at Miranda, her scared expression completely the opposite of what she had been all those years ago.

"I started doing this because I wanted to save lives. But now I realise…" She looked back at Jessica. "Some sacrifices need to be made to save this godforsaken city." Jessica silently agreed, joining her as she watched the TV.

"So you decided no." Ennard grinned playfully. "Honestly, I kind of expected this." He muttered. "But all is well." He raised the gun to Miranda's head. "This will be fun." He promised to the girl. "For me."

 _Bang!_

 **xXx**

"So what now?" Mache Bear asked Ennard, eyeing the bloodied corpse in the corner of the room.

"They would have revealed their identities." Ennard told him quietly. "But they recognised the girl. She was a person who bullied both of them at school. I checked her records. She got expelled for a lot of things." Soggy Bunny stepped forward.

"And so now you know their identities?" He mused. Ennard smiled wickedly, his mind beginning to calculate possible ways to kill the two. "Yes I do."

 **xXx**

Jessica silently crept up the basement stairs, not wanting to disturb Charlie. She could see that she was completely immersed into the serum. She had seen the look on her face before. It was an expression which spelled out obsession. If she wanted to talk to Charlie, she would have to wait.

She sighed, grabbing a glass and pouring herself a drink.

 _Creak…_

Jessica whipped around, her ears perking up at the tiny, almost unnoticeable noise. Instinctively, she grabbed the thing closest at hand; the glass she had been drinking from. After realising what she was doing, she placed the glass back on the table, shaking her head, and instead grabbed a kitchen knife.

She held the blade in front of her as she crept silently through the hallway, her eyes scanning the dark corners.

 _Bang!_

Jessica's eyes rolled into the back of her head as Plate Kid smashed her skull with a baseball bat. She hit the floor loud, creating a thumping noise.

"She out?" Soggy Bunny whispered as he leaned out from behind a door.

"Yup." Plate Kid whispered. "C'mon, Ennard and Mache Bear will take care of the other one."

 **xXx**

Charlie instantly grabbed her sword the moment she heard Jessica hit the ground.

 _Someone's inside._

She slipped the serum she'd been working on into her pocket, then slowly backed up into a shadowy corner as the basement door creaked open. She breathed a sigh of relief when she only heard one pair of feet travelling down the stairs. She looked nervously at the steps, and saw Mache Bear walking down.

She raised her sword and fired a springlock at his feet, causing him to tumble down the stairs headfirst.

"Ah!" She jumped put and grabbed him by the neck.

"What. Are. You. Doing. Here?" She growled. "What did you do to Jessica?" Mache bear smiled weakly at her from behind his mask.

"Exactly what we're about to do to you." Suddenly reeled back in pain as Ennard stuck a needle into her neck, her body falling limply. Ennard looked up at Mache Bear. "We should go back. After all, these two deserve a nice, slow death."

 **xXx**

"Uh…" Charlie's eyelids fluttered open. She still felt groggy from whatever Ennard had stuck into her system.

"Charlie?" She looked around after hearing Jessica's voice. "Jessica?" She muttered. "Behind you." Charlie slowly spun her head around to see Jessica. She suddenly realised that they were bound back to back. "What…?"

"Took you long enough." Jessica commented dryly. "I was getting worried you were dead."

"Oh, wow." Ennard muttered in a disappointed manner as he walked into the room. "You're both awake." Suddenly, he grinned. "Actually, it's better if you're awake. Would have been more funny to see you waking up and realising you were dying though." Charlie and Jessica both shot him angry looks.

"What?" He asked, still grinning. "I mean, I'm only going to burn you alive." His grin changed to an angry frown. "Just the way you did to my friends." Charlie felt around in her pocket, and was relieved when she realised that they hadn't taken the needle out of her pocket. But where was the fire coming from…?

She looked down and realised that she and Jessica were currently sitting on a steel trapdoor, which was likely going to be opened really soon. She nudged Jessica and motioned towards the trapdoor. Jessica mouther back _I know,_ and Charlie realised she was using the rugged trapdoor handle to slice through her bonds.

She tried to prise open a part of the trapdoor, in an effort to make a gap appear. However, she spotted a small hole in front of her. She clicked the needle, causing it to extend. The serum started dripping.

"Mache Bear, care to do the honours?" Ennard asked the paper faced bear as he walked into the room.

"With pleasure." He nodded, and smiled at Charlie and Jessica, who stared back begrudgingly. Charlie listened as she heard the water rushing beneath her. It seemed the serum had worked. Mache Bear gripped a steel lever which stuck out the ground, and grunted wit effort as he pushed it the opposite way. Charlie glanced at Jessica, who had successfully sawed through the rope which was tying them together. Charlie pointed at the trapdoor with her free hand, and mouthed _water._ Jessica stared at her confused, then listened for a moment, and mouthed _Holy Sh*t._

"You ready?" Ennard cackled wickedly. Behind their masks, Charlie could tell the Paper Faces were smiling. Mache Bear grunted, before finally managing to push the lever into place. Ennard grinned as the trapdoor began to creak open. "Have fun."

The trapdoor swung open, dropping both of them into the water. The rope around them began to disentangle quickly.

"Oh my god." Jessica muttered. "How effective is that crap?" Charlie shrugged.

"I'd never tested it before." She said. But now my question is how the hell we get out of here?" They wooden beams which lined the walls. "I say we break the beams." Jessica suggested. Charlie nodded. "Right."

They both began to beat their fists against the supporting beams. Charlie grinned as she heard the rods cracking under the pressure of both the raging water and their fists, beating relentlessly against them.

 _Crack!_

"What the hell?!" Ennard yelled as he looked through the hole in the floor, and saw not fire, but water. He suddenly saw Charlie and Jessica trying to break out, and pulled a gun out of his back pocket.

 _Bang! Bang! Bang!_

Charlie ducked her head as Ennard fired the gun relentlessly, the sound of him pulling the trigger always clicking in the back of her mind.

 _Bang! Bang! Bang!_

"Jessica!" Charlie yelled, pointing towards the beams. The shots from Ennard's gun had left several bullet holes in the wood, and therefore several weak points. "Push!" They both began to push, as Ennard continued to fire his gun.

"Gah!" The moment he stopped to reload, they both resurfaced and pushed as hard as they could, causing the wood to bend and break.

 _Crack!_

The foundations of the building suddenly broke, and they watched as Ennard and the Paper Pals stumbled and fell, as the house began to be washed down the street by the powerful current of the water.

 _Crack!_

 _Creak!_

The structure of the house began to cave in, and Charlie could suddenly see the night sky. The walls of the house began to break down, and Charlie watched as the current swept cars off the road and into the stream. She climbed onto a wall of the house which was now floating in the water, and looked around for the others.

"Grah!" Soggy Bunny suddenly burst out of the water and clung onto the makeshift raft, his name now fitting his description. Instinctively, Charlie grabbed a wooden board out of the water, and swung it into his face. "Ah!" Despite the blow, he continued to hold on, fury in his eyes.

Jessica's arms suddenly emerged from the flood, bringing her arms around Soggy Bunny's neck and pulling him under the water. Through the murky liquid, Charlie could see the two struggling to dominate the other, each exchanging punches and kicks of their own. After seeing the fight wasn't going anywhere, Charlie swung the board at Soggy Bunny's head, knocking him out.

Jessica's hand grabbed the edge of the raft, and Charlie pulled her up.

"I've got his gun." Jessica said breathlessly as she showed Charlie the gun, her finger clasped around the trigger.

"Nice." Charlie muttered. She was alerted to a splashing sound on their left, which was caused by Mache Bear and Ennard climbing out of the water, both of them giving Charlie hateful stares. Charlie's eyes widened as Ennard pulled his gun out and prepared to fire. "Oh shi-" She cut herself off as Jessica shot Ennard in the leg, causing him to clutch the limb in pain, before tumbling back into the water.

Charlie kicked herself off the raft and tackled Mache Bear, causing his soggy mask to fly off his face. Underneath the mask, his face was surprisingly handsome, but Charlie quickly changed that after she punched him in the face several times, breaking his nose and causing blood to leak down his face, the red liquid spreading over the transparent water.

"Surprise!" She was suddenly tugged back by Plate Kid, who had apparently been waiting for her. Mache Bear steadily got to his feet, huffing and puffing like he'd just ran a marathon. Charlie struggled to keep herself from falling in, clutching the boards of wood, before elbowing Plate Kid in the ribs, before ripping his mask off and throwing it into Mache Bears face, blinding him as he clawed at pulpy plate, trying to get it off.

 _Bang!_

Charlie ducked her head as she heard Ennard beginning to shoot at her again, Ennard beginning to shoot at her again, ferocity in ever bullet that pierced the flood of water.

 _Bang!_

Mache Bear suddenly fell into the water, a bullet hole in his chest causing his to bleed profusely. Plate Kid also let go momentarily, giving Charlie time to tackle him back into the water, and shoving him into a car which was floating by. His angry screams were muffled by the water as she closed the door on him and flipped the car, causing him to spin like a top. The last look he gave her was anger before his eyes closed, the way people did when they died.

"Ah!" Ennard screamed out, his voice coated by fury, as Jessica smashed his nose in, and pushed him away, as they battled on the top of a floating car. "I'll kill you!" He yelled, preparing to lunge at Jessica.

"Whatever." She said. Rolling her eyes as she sidestepped, and letting him fly past her, into a lamp post. "Wha-?" He turned around, still rubbing his head from the blow, as the car neared, Jessica jumping off at the last second.

 _Smash!_

The car rammed Ennard into the pole, and suddenly as Charlie looked into his eyes, she felt a little sympathy. His white mask shot off his face, and she and Jessica watched, mesmerised as his innards and bones began to shoot out of his mouth, one by one. Blood spurted out of his open mouth like a fountain, poisoning the crystal clear water with his crimson blood, the same way black paint overtook white paint. His bloodshot eyeballs rolled in their sockets, before falling out themselves. His body was washed into the flood, now nothing but a flat, thin layer of skin and flesh. As his body continued to wind away down the street, Charlie and Jessica grabbed onto lamp posts in order to halt themselves from being ripped away by the flood, the bloodied water slowly draining away down the sewers.

 _Tomorrow is another day._


	6. Painted Heart

**I'm aware that I've not been uploading, and I apologise for it. This chapter didn't want to be written. It's also possibly the worst chapter so far.**

 **This chapter requires a little knowledge from the books to understand... well, one of the characters and a few of the mentioned things.**

 **And the next will be extra awkward, so prepare your butts for that.**

 **But for now just enjoy the chapter :)**

Chapter 6

Painted Heart

Charlie noticed Jessica staring at her from the corner of her eye.

"What?" She asked, turning around to face her.

Jessica's weapon; sometimes she didn't even realise she was using it. But it was actually pretty beautiful. The iron rod was bladed at both ends, with spikes sticking out of the sides for piercing enemies.

"I feel that things have died down a bit, don't you?" Jessica asked Charlie, who shrugged, then went back to being absorbed by whatever was on that computer. "What were you looking at?" She asked as Charlie suddenly shut down the computer.

"Nothing." She muttered quietly. Jessica frowned. "Never opening up, are you?" She sighed. "Nope. And I'm hungry." Charlie exclaimed, getting up from the chair. "I'm gonna go out tonight, so if you find something interesting, do me a favour and leave some of the fun for me." She winked at Jessica, before walking up the stairs.

The moment she heard the basement door close, Jessica sprung into the computer seat, and booted up the PC.

"Sh*t." She exclaimed, after realising she didn't know Charlie's password. "Uh…" She thought about what the password could be, her mind racing between the possibilities. Suddenly, she typed in N11982SB.

 _Error._

N11982SBonnie

 _Error._

Frustrated, she paused for moment, before typing N11982SD

 _Welcome, Charlotte._

Jessica was slightly surprised she'd gotten the password right, but shrugged it off. She had been right to think that her password would be related to Charlie's brother's date of death. She scanned the screen for anything interesting. However, there wasn't much. A few websites were open, which Jessica looked at, but they were all just about recent news, nothing interesting.

Suddenly, she noticed a strange icon on the task bar, just on the end. It looked like a Freddy Fazbear mask, but the shape of it was slightly different, and the skin was golden, rather than brown. Additionally, his hat was purple, not black. Unable to hold back her curiosity, she clicked on it.

The screen was filled up with several blueprints, some depicting animatronics, while others looked like weapons. Jessica stared in shock at the name of the program.

Afton Robotics.

"Afton…" She muttered out loud. "William Afton." Jessica began to scroll up and down through the pages. Most were blueprints, but there were a few written notes. After looking at a few, Jessica realised something. These were written by Charlie. Judging by the notes, she'd been obsessed with Afton's inventions.

 _I just took a look at the original blueprints for the Fredbear animatronic. It's incredible, really. That someone could make a system, which allowed robot and suit to become one. But the jewel in the crown is Spring Bonnie. The blueprints show that the original suit had springlocks which caused the costume pieces to fly off when triggered at will, in order for safer wearing of the suit. I can't understand how someone could die while wearing it._

Jessica minimised the program, and booted down the PC. So basically, Charlie was a fanatic of springlock technology. That would be fine… except the man who invented them had also killed Michael. Just what did she see in him?

 **xXx**

Charlie walked hurriedly down the road, her eyes constantly glancing at the watch on her right wrist.

 _10:48 pm_

It was getting late, and she had stayed out for too long.

 _Thump._

Charlie whipped around, her hand drawing towards her back, where her sword was hidden by her backpack. A slender figure was silhouetted against a tree. From its back sprouted two pitch black wings, and its eyes were two miniscule glowing white dots, placed much farther down the body than they should have been. Its arms ended not in hands, but in three thin spines, from which hung barely noticeable strings.

"Hello Charlie. Do you remember me?" Charlie was silent, her gaze never breaking from the figure. For some reason, the voice didn't seem to come directly from the person's mouth. However, he sounded her age. "Because I still remember you."

He took a few steps forward, and walked into the glow of a nearby streetlight. His face was completely covered by a white mask, which resembled a puppet. Two tear streaks leaked down from the eyes into the mouth, which sported razor sharp teeth, which glinted threateningly in the light. On his chest were three heads, each one seemingly having one purpose, one seeing, one speaking, and one hearing. The one in the middle, the seeing one, seemed to have caused the glow.

"We met before. A long time ago." He continued to walk forward, his stride un-breaking.

"Don't come any closer." Charlie whispered, her voice threatening. He tilted his head, raised his hands. "As you wish." Suddenly, he whipped his fingers around, causing the strings to fly out, just missing Charlie as she pulled out her sword and jumped over the steel cables. She pointed the barrel of her sword at the figure, and rapidly fired springlocks at his legs, which he easily dodged.

"You need to change your strategy." He opened up his wings, and the wind instantly pulled him towards Charlie, ramming her in the ribs.

"Ah!" She yelled, clutching her side in pain. "Sh*t." She zipped open her bag and pulled the Springtrap mask over her head as the figure shot past her again. "William? I could really use some help."

" _Seriously?"_

His nonchalant response was enough to drive her crazy.

"Can't you what kind of situation I'm in?" She yelled, dodging the strings and ignoring the middle and left head's expressions of bewilderment as she appeared to keep yelling to herself.

 _"You seem to be handling it quite well."_

"Screw you." She growled, raising her sword to block several sharp wires which had just fired from her opponent's hand. "This is about life or death!"

 _"Well what do you expect me to do?!"_

"I don't know, do some of your magic hocus pocus crap which you used on those bloody kids for good, how about that you psycho!" Suddenly, William felt silent.

 _"Wait on my signal."_

Charlie was surprised that her yelling at him at actually worked.

"Signal?" Suddenly the figure cried out in pain, and she could suddenly see an expression reflecting his current state from the right face. "How did you-?"

 _"Go!"_

Charlie rushed forward and smashed him in the gut, causing him to stumble back.

"Ah…" Without waiting for more, she slashed the sword across his chest. However, the blade simply bounced off his body armour. "Well, screw it." She kicked him hard in the ribs, causing him to fly back, before he opened up his wings, and the wind carried him away. However, as he flew away he crashed into the branches of a nearby tree, causing him to fall back to the ground.

"Grah!" Thrashing with anger, he lashed out his hand, and successfully grappled the steel thread around Charlie left leg, and pulled, causing her to fall down.

"Sh*t!" The figure began to draw her in, and it was then that she noticed the sharp blades which extended from his arms. He leapt up, and brought his blades down, clashing with her sword. "I've been watching you for a while." He growled. "At first, I held myself back. But honestly, do you still remember what you did to me? Do you even care?"

 _Clash!_

The figure suddenly recoiled in pain, as Jessica stabbed in the back, but his armour kept the spear from going in too far. He turned around and glared at her, his eyes now glowing.

"So you're here too." He pushed Jessica off of him, before hitting her hard in the chest with his wires, sending her flying back. Using his temporary moment of distraction to her advantage, Charlie quickly jumped up and tore through his wings with her sword, before firing springlocks between the gaps in his armour. "F*ck!" Jessica rushed forward, thrusting the spear at his chest, only to shatter the centre head.

"Ah!" Suddenly, he began to claw blindly at the air in front of him. "I can't see!" Jessica glanced at Charlie, and began counting down her fingers.

 _3…2…1…_

"Now!" The figure instantly lashed out a series of fine silver threads towards Jessica's voice, which she dodged effortlessly, jumping over them with expert skill. Charlie rushed forward and struck him hard in the shoulder, causing him to fall to the ground. He faced Charlie's general direction, breathing heavily.

"You little-" He stopped and sputtered ass Charlie stabbed him in the gut. He looked at her and growled a final "F*ck you." Before passing out, his body hitting the pavement like a ragdoll.

"We should probably take him in." Charlie muttered as she watched the body continue to bleed, staining the pavement the same way Ennard's blood had stained the river.

"Why not kill him now?" Jessica asked, glaring at the masked figure. "Because he knows me." Charlie growled. "He's from my past. And above all the goals I made, I promised myself that I would fix the past." She grabbed the limp body, blood now soaking the sleeves of her shirt. "And we need to fix him." She began walking to her house, which lay on the corner of the street, Jessica following reluctantly. "I need to put him back together."

"Then first, if what he says is true…" Charlie turned around as Jessica started speaking. "Then look at his face." Charlie raised an eyebrow, then looked down at the soulless mask. Behind that monstrous face, there was something else. Something human. Charlie nodded, before tearing off the mask, and almost dropping the body in shock.

"Oh, sh*t." "What's wrong?" Jessica asked worriedly. Charlie looked up at her, and muttered "It's Arty."

 **xXx**

 _Charlie hurriedly rushed down the corridor, not wanting to be late for her next class; Advanced Robotics. It was her favourite subject, for a reason she could not explain, but perhaps it was because of her father. He had made robots, and those robots had made him._

 _"Hey, hey!" Charlie whipped her head around, not changing her stride, as her friend Arty ran up next to her._

 _"Oh, Arty. Hey." She muttered, not really concentrating. "Listen, Charlie." Arty said, struggling to keep up with her. "I was just wondering whether you…"_

 _"Whether I what?" Charlie asked, even though she probably wouldn't pay attention to his answer._

 _"Well…" "Sh*t." She cursed as she realised she'd turned too early, and rushed back the other way. "Charlie!" She ignored him, and turned the corner, skidding to a stop in front of her classroom. She breathed a sigh of relief as she saw that the door hadn't yet closed._

 _"Hey Charlie!" Arty muttered as he walked through the door with her. The other students in the classroom were still chattering as they sat down at their usual desks. "Listen, I was just wondering what you're doing later today." Charlie stared at him, bewildered._

 _"Arty, are you asking me out?"_

 _Suddenly, the entire classroom went silent. Charlie drew back slowly as she realised what she'd just done._

 _"Sh*t." She muttered quietly as the rest of the eyes in the classroom, including the teacher's, turned towards Arty, who let out a barely noticeable, but accurate description of his situation._

 _"F*ck."_

 **xXx**

Jessica stared at Charlie, confused, as began wrapping bandages around Arty's head.

"So let me get this straight." She said, as Charlie continued to tend to Arty's wounds. "This guy asked you out on a date, and the rest of the class heard."

"And they told the rest of the school." Charlie muttered. "Let's just say that there were a decent amount of guys trying to get to me. And well… they'd all asked me, and I said no to each of them. But I never really said no to Arty, so…" "Right." Jessica murmured as she realised where this was going. "Yeah. It wasn't pretty. Basically, I told them to back off, and then they instantly put up this crappy act, and pretended they hadn't done sh*t. I knew I couldn't get them to admit it, so I left. And then they beat the crap out of Arty, every day, for the rest of the year."

Jessica sighed.

"What happened to him?" She asked, slightly afraid of what the answer would be.

"He tried to commit suicide." Charlie muttered. "And as far as I was aware, he succeeded." Jessica put her head in her hands. "F*ck." "Yeah, that pretty much summed it up. And you know what? Those guys still pretended they hadn't done anything, pretended that what happened to Arty wasn't associated with them in any way. They were complete jerks." She glanced at Arty, who she now knew was alive, not dead.

"You know how I took advanced robotics?" Charlie asked Jessica, who nodded. "Well, we had this assignment. We had to make a machine, which was able to recognise shapes, recognise sound, and respond." Jessica raised an eyebrow.

"So?" Charlie shrugged. "I made three. But one for each purpose. Guess what they were?" Jessica shrugged. "What?" Charlie looked back at Arty's armour, and she felt a pang of guilt in her chest, as she looked at the centre head, shattered like broken china. "They were three white heads."

Jessica's eyes were drawn to Arty's armour.

"No way."

"Yes way." Charlie sighed. "I gave them to Arty after the assignment was over. I mean, I had two more, and those were more important to me, don't ask why. But after we thought he died, I went to his apartment… and the heads were gone." Jessica frowned. "So he took them with him." Charlie nodded. "Yeah. And a day after, that, the ringleader of them all, the one who beat him up the most… he was found dead. His throat was slit open, and no one knew who did it. But now that I think about it…" She looked at Arty's unconscious body, now breathing peacefully. "It must have been him."

Suddenly, Arty sat up, causing Charlie to jump back as he began to thrash around uncontrollably.

"Help me hold him down!" Charlie yelled. "He can't see or hear." Jessica stared, frozen, before her eyes darted back too Arty's armour, and in one swift movement, she grabbed the armour removed the two remaining heads.

"How do I hook these up to him?" Jessica asked.

"They already are." Charlie muttered. "But he still can't see."

"Ah!" Arty yelled as he thrashed around, wailing "I can't see! I can't see!"

"Jessica, hold him down!" Charlie yelled. Jessica nodded, pushing Arty down as Charlie released him, and ran upstairs. Jessica eyed the stairs nervously as Arty continued to struggle against her grip.

"Found it!" Charlie yelled from upstairs, her voice carrying faintly down towards the basement. Jessica breathed a sigh of relief as she burst through the basement door, carrying several small machines.

"What are those?" Jessica asked as Charlie placed the machinery on the desk, and began sorting through it. "Well, I did tell you I had extras." She said as she pulled out a miniature endoskeleton head, from the pile, and attached a white plastic mask to the front of it. She strode over to Arty, and pulled out thin wires from the back of the device, and plugged them into tiny plugs extruding from Arty's chest.

"Ah!" Arty suddenly sat up, ripping away from Jessica's grip. He grasped his hand around the device in his chest, and suddenly, as he turned, he saw Charlie.

Suddenly, the latter broke into a sweat.

"Oh crap." Arty launched himself off the bed, headed for Charlie. "Arty, stop!" She yelled as he barrelled into her, pushing her up against the wall. Jessica stepped forward, but Charlie quickly held up her hand weakly, muttering "No."

 _Smash!_

Charlie winced as Arty began to pummel her, bruising her face and body. But she refused to scream as the pain made her body feel like it was on fire. She wept silently, letting the tears stream down her face as Arty continued to lay into her, the constant punches beginning to make her feel faint.

"Arty, stop!" Charlie glanced momentarily towards Jessica, who pulled on Arty, drawing him away from Charlie, who fell to the ground.

"Who the hell are you?" He asked angrily as Jessica continued to pull him back. "Her friend." She growled angrily. "And if you're smart, you'll stop." Charlie weakly began to crawl upstairs, as Jessica and Arty continued to throw insults at each other. She struggled to lift herself up the stairs, as her blood dripped from her open wounds, splattering onto the steps, and creating crimson splotches over the grey concrete.

Arty's gaze slowly drifted towards Charlie, as Jessica continued to try and distract him.

"Hey!" Before Jessica could react, he suddenly sprinted towards Charlie, grabbing her and slamming her against the wall.

"Ah…" Charlie gasped as her breath was suddenly knocked out of her. It was just her and Arty, staring into each other's eyes in an endless stalemate.

"Do you even care about what you did?" He yelled at her, clasping his fingers around her neck, choking her.

"Even if I am…" She muttered weakly. "…I know that nothing I say can make up for what I've what I've done." He stared at her with his unseeing eyes, his expression unchanging. "Exactly." Suddenly, he tightened his grip around her neck, and Charlie couldn't breath at all. "And you will only breathe…" He released her, causing her to fall back onto the crimson splattered stairs, gasping for breath. "…when I give you air."

 **xXx**

Darkness. This was his endless domain, the world where he now dwelled. He had never been sure what it really was. Purgatory? Hell? Perhaps he would never know. But although he couldn't see, he could hear. And what he heard… allowed him to see to an extent.

He had heard Charlie when she had put on the head, and know they were connected. He saw the world through her eyes. And so he saw everything happening now. But deep down, he knew he didn't care. He shouldn't care.

He ignored her repetitive screams, instead watching Arty walk away from her.

 _How much pain is she in…?_

He could hear her insides wailing, crying despite the tears contributing nothing to a resolution.

 _Why do humans do this? Why do they shed tears?_

He couldn't help but feel sorry for her. Her entire life she'd been living in some twisted reality. She'd been through hell and back. And now this was how she was repaid.

A new feeling came over him, one which he couldn't quite explain. But as he looked at Arty, and imagined himself clenching his fist, he realised what he felt.

It was rage.


	7. Phantom of My Past

**I promise guys, my hiatus is over. Regular updates are coming back.**

 **In other news (As I'm sure you know) FNaF 6, aka Freddy Fazbear's Pizzeria Simulator, is released. I know I said the plot of this is set in stone, but there will be some changes. After all, even water can make stone crack.**

 **And by the way, just to clear things up, Arty's Puppet suit isn't The Puppet from FNaF 2, it's Nightmarionne with wings, arm blades and pointed metal strings which shoot out.**

 **Anyway, that's all. Stay awesome guys, and enjoy the chapter!**

Chapter 7

Phantom of My Past

Arty never saw it coming. He had headed back to yell a little more at Jessica about how she didn't really know Charlie, how she was a monster, etc. He had been too busy yelling at her he hadn't noticed Charlie's sword slowly tilting towards him. By the time he heard it creaking, it was too late. The spring lock hit the back of his head, not going too far in, but still causing a large amount of damage.

"Sh*t!" Arty clutched the back of his head, and clasped his fingers slowly around the springlock, and pulled it out of his head, leaving a bloody, fleshy indentation in his head.

Jessica gasped as Arty flicked the bloodied springlock away, the noise of it clattering to the floor causing her to step back.

"How the hell are you still alive?" She asked in horror as Arty turned his gaze towards Charlie, who instantly started backing away. However, his eyes were instead drawn to her sword, which was still facing towards him.

 _Bang!_

This time Arty was ready for it. He quickly sidestepped as the sword fired another springlock, aimed directly at his frontal lobe.

"Stop this!" He yelled at Charlie.

"This isn't me!" She said back to him, confusing him as the sword continued to fire at him. "It's William." She muttered with realisation, shuddering as she saw the Springtrap helm begin to smile on the desk. "He's possessing the Springtrap equipment."

The rotten, corpse-like material began to rise, the springlocks triggering, switching the suit to animatronics mode. The metal ribcage which replaced the chest began to extend, the bladed bones peeling forward, prepared to stab anything in front of it. Slowly, the parts began to come together. The joints and servos creaked as both fabric and metal began to combine to together, till finally, the armour was walking upright, as if an actual person was inside.

"Sh*t!" Yelled Arty as the armour, now possessed by William, grabbed Charlie's springlock sword and began to fire at him, causing both him and Jessica to drop down as the springlocks ricocheted off the walls.

"Why are you hiding?" William's hollow laughter echoed out of the suit, sending chills down Charlie's spine as she continued edging away. Arty grimaced as the constant bangs and clangs continued overhead. He eyed Jessica, and frowned as she stuck the middle finger up in his direction.

"What?!" He yelled over the constant din as Jessica rolled her eyes, before crawling away in the opposite direction towards the safety of the metal desk. Arty glanced towards his armour on the other side of the room, and grinned as he figured out what he needed to do. He began to crawl towards his armour, but not before William spotted him, shooting him in the leg, causing him to howl in pain as blood poured out from the cut skin.

Charlie reached up and grabbed the basement door, cringing as it creaked open. Arty's ears perked up at the sound.

 _She can't run away from the pain she's caused like that._

But William had other intentions. Arty groaned as he felt rotting fabric press against his shoulders as William lifted him up, until they were face to face.

"You should stop thinking like that, Arty." He frowned, at the same time gagging at the horrible scent the suit let off.

"W-what?" He muttered, as the empty eyeholes in the suit began to glow, dim light appearing at the back of the head. " _She can't run away from the pain she's caused like that._ " Arty gasped. "How do you-"

"Do you know pain?!" William's yell made his ears ring. "Do you?!" Arty shook and tried to speak, but no sound came out of his mouth. "Let me show you pain. True pain." He gasped as William's hands edged towards his face. "The pain she went through."

Suddenly, it was dark, but only for a moment. Because then, the memories started to come. They were incomprehensible at first, just a blur of colours and sounds. But slowly, they began to come into focus. There was a boy sitting opposite him, playing with a toy truck, running it back and forth across the tiled floor. Suddenly, Arty realised that he was seeing this through Charlie's eyes. Suddenly, his view shifted to the right. There were rows of yellow suits, hanging on a rack. Suddenly, he was struck with the realisation of how similar they were to the suit Charlie used. Was that why she used it, because it was from her childhood?

The room was filled with light, and Arty suddenly realised how dark the room had been beforehand. The door to the room, or rather a closet, had just opened. Both Charlie and the boy were now looking at the open door. There was a man now, wearing a yellow suit, which looked like the Springtrap suit, except it wasn't rotten and withered, and it had an actual torso, rather than a bloodied metal ribcage. Arty could see it was a man, but…

 _What is seen in shadows is easily misunderstood in the mind of a child._

He was looking at them both now, first looking at Charlie, then the boy, then Charlie again.

 _Who's that boy? Is that… her brother?_

Suddenly, the man grabbed the boy, and ran, pushing through countless people, dressed like it was Halloween.

 _Was it?_

He heard Charlie crying, and a pang of guilt hit him for ever being angry at her.

 _She really remembers her brother being taken from her?_

Then the scene changed. Someone was covering Charlie's eyes, and he could sense they were moving. Suddenly, the hand shifted a bit. And then he saw. It was a corpse, of a man. And bent over him was a metal skeleton, a knife clutched in its right hand.

 _Her dad._

There was blood, spreading slowly across the floor, seeping into the floorboards. Time seemed to stop. It kept spreading, slowly, slowly, o-

"ENOUGH!" He managed to break free from William's grasp, kicking him away and causing the rotting rabbit to stumble backwards into a table. White dots glowed in the back of the suit.

"Now do you see?" He asked Arty quietly. The latter nodded hesitantly.

 _After everything that's happened to her, I went after her for something which was hardly her fault. Her soul was already broken. Now I've just broken it even more. There's no forgiveness for that._

"You're wrong, by the way." Arty looked up at William in shock. "You're easy to read, Arty Bishop."

 _Silence._

"How do you-"

"I killed your brother."

Arty stared at him, confused. "Brother?" William looked at him in surprise. "Your parents never told you? About your brother?" He shook his head. "Well… he was my second victim. Slit his throat as he stood outside the restaurant. Next thing you know, his spirit passes on. 3 years later, you were born."

 _What…?_

"Some parents you had." He muttered, leaving Arty clutching his head.

"What the… how…" William face palmed. "Here we go." Arty shook his head. "Actually, no. I'm just going to accept that. Whatever happened, it can't be as bad as… you know." William began to smile. "I think you should talk to her. She's waiting for you, by the way. Go to the garage." With that, the suit fell down as William pulled his spirit back into the mask, and the mask alone.

 **xXx**

Charlie stared at the corner of the garage. When she was younger, an endoskeleton lay there. Every second, it would twitch unnaturally, and a question always lingered on her mind, as she played with her toys, watching her father work on his projects, either too immersed into his projects to notice the twitching skeleton, or just not giving a care.

 _Does it hurt?_

But she had never asked. One day, she was playing with her toys, afraid to look up. But when she forced herself too, the skeleton didn't twitch. It was still. Chains attached to its limbs were fastened to the wall, preventing it from moving. But something told her that it wouldn't have moved, anyway. It had left. And only a few years later, she would know it as Foxy the Pirate.

"Hi." She didn't turn around. She already knew who it was.

"I'm sorry." She whispered quietly. "For what?" She was almost surprised. But she was beginning to see a pattern, in people, especially those who were broken. "William told you." She said. She knew it was true. The patterns told her so. "Yeah." He sat down next to her. Somehow, she found that she didn't mind. "I broke your soul. Again." Arty muttered.

Then she found herself laughing.

"What I did to you was unforgiveable. Screw what people might think, screw what they say." Arty frowned.

"I was going to say the same thing." She smirked at him wearily. "Not exactly the same." "True."

 _Silence._

"Why are you here?" Charlie asked him suddenly.

"Because I tried to kill you, when you did nothing wrong." He said. "Let's just admit it." She said, finally facing him. "We're both complete idiots. This is neither of our faults." He shrugged. "…yeah." She grinned at him. "You were gonna ask me out." She was full on smiling now. "You know, I was gonna say yes." He stared at her. "And now?" "Hell yeah."

Their lips touched.

 **xXx**

Clay Burke looked at the pictures in front of him, puzzled. He knew Springtrap and The Mangle's M. O.s. There were three victims. One with a springlock drilled through the skull. One with their frontal lobe removed, laying on the ground a few meters away. And one with several small holes in their chest, plus strangulation marks. Though he didn't want to admit it, he knew it in his heart; there was a new vigilante going around.

"Hey dad." He heard his son, Carlton, come through the door of his office. He smiled briefly before frowning again, puzzling over the last corpse.

"Hey son." Carlton grinned, and looked at the pictures. "What's that?" Clay shrugged. "More bodies, dropped by the vigilantes. Plus a new one, I think." Carlton frowned. "Three of them? Crap, that's a heck ton. One was enough…" Clay smiled absentmindedly. "Agreed." Carlton looked closely at the bodies. "You know, most people seem to like them. They feel like they're clearing the crime in the city real fast. They call them The Scourge these days." Clay laughed. "Of what? All they're doing is dropping bodies." "And violent crime has gone down by 7%." Carlton pointed out. Clay stared at him. Carlton glared back. "What? It doesn't mean I like them. They're criminals, and they're dangerous." Clay nodded, before looking back at the corpse. These people, whoever they were, needed to be put away. For good.

 **xXx**

The officers didn't look up. He found that they never did, for an odd reason. They stood and did nothing, put up little number signs, and whatever other boring stuff he didn't need to know. They seemed shocked. They thought that The Scourge had struck again. What they didn't know was that they weren't the only group trying to bring justice to this city. He wasn't sure The Scourge themselves knew that. He wondered how much they knew about the people they killed. But all he knew was that these people were bad people, and bad people needed to be punished.

He had seen them earlier today. No one except for him knew about the dead body in the dumpster. And honestly, he didn't care. As long as these people got what they deserved. Plus, The Scourge needed the time off. He had seen Springtrap today. She was with her friends, the one they called The Mangle, and another one, someone from her past, who was yet to be known. It seemed that the past was finally catching up with her. And for a time, he would do her work for her. He looked at the house over the other buildings, and saw her through her bedroom window, with her lavender rabbit. He smiled briefly.

"You're welcome, Charlie."

Then he disappeared from view. A few seconds later, a man would tell a police officer that he had seen a golden bear wearing a top hat and a bow tie, standing on the roof of a nearby building. But no one would believe him.


	8. Old Friends

**Yup, I'm back. It hasn't been too long, has it?**

 **Sorry about the previous upload, the code showed for some reason. Not sure why.**

 **This chapter begins a new short story arc, and will likely last about 3-4 chapters.**

 **The next ones should be up soon.**

 **Enjoy :)**

Chapter 8

Old Friends

"Hello dad." Clay groaned as Carlton walked in.

"What?" He asked, still annoyed by how another vigilante was (or wasn't) roaming around. "I met with Jessica today." Carlton said, surprising Clay. "Huh. So…?" Carlton shrugged. "You know, Charlie moved back." Clay shot up. "Charlie, as in-" "Yeah." Carlton grinned. "Turns out she's been here for quite a while, but Jessica decided not to bring it up until now." Clay raised an eyebrow. "How long has she been here?" Carlton thought for a moment. "The 11th last month, apparently. 2 days before the freak showed up."

That got Clay's attention. He looked at Carlton, who frowned.

"Don't look at me like that. It's not like I think she's a killer." Clay just sighed. "I asked Jessica to tell her I wanted to meet her. I don't know how she knew, but she said Charlie would meet me after a few seconds. Not only that, but also where and when." Clay shrugged.

"Don't forget, she _is_ missing her frontal lobe." Carlton just frowned, before walking out. "I still trust her."

 **xXx**

 _"You told me that only Marla and Jason were in town."_ Jessica sighed as Charlie's voice crackled through the coms. She was watching the restaurant that Charlie had told her to tell Carlton she would meet him at. It sure was helpful to have a spirit maintaining your communication system.

"Yeah, well Carlton's weird now." She said as she watched him walk towards the restaurant. "He was going to study acting. Changed his mind at the last minute and became all serious. Got into his dad's work."

 _"Fair enough then. Be quiet now, he's coming in."_ Jessica shrugged as William switched off the coms. But then again, Charlie and Carlton deserved their privacy. She just hoped Arty wouldn't take it the wrong way.

 **xXx**

Charlie sat at the table, tapping her foot impatiently.

"William, time?" She asked.

 _"1: 33, 34 seconds. Late 3.5 minutes."_ She sighed and drummed her fingers on the table.

"Hey." She looked up at Carlton. The smallest trace of a grin was on her face.

"15 years since we've seen each other, and… still late by 3.5 minutes." He sighed and sat down opposite her. "Yeah. I'm sorry." He said guiltily, not noticing the edges of her mouth picking up. "No matter." She grinned. "I've missed you." "Me too. Which leads me to my biggest question; why didn't you tell me you were in town?" Charlie frowned. "I didn't know. I heard from Jessica today."

He shrugged.

"Probably wasn't the first thing on her mind. After all, vigilantes are running all over the city." She fake frowned when he said that. "Mm. Just a little after I arrived." Carlton nodded. "So, why did you come back?" She looked down. "I…" she shrugged. "I really don't know. I guess I just miss this place that much. Well, either the place or the memories." Carlton sighed when she said that. "Unfortunately, I don't think your hopes will be fulfilled. With all the crazy stuff happening here, The Scourge and all." Charlie raised an eyebrow, trying to mask the bolt of pain which had just struck her heart. "You seem to blame them for something." She muttered. "For killing so many people? Hell yeah I do."

 _Silence._

"Don't tell me you're one of their supporters, Charlie." She shook her head.

"That's not my point. What I mean is that vigilantism only exists because crime existed before it. This city was rotten from the start." Carlton gave her a cold look, before reverting back to his normal self. The transition was quick, but Charlie saw it clearly. He hated her. He just didn't know it.

 **xXx**

"Ay, idiot. Your dinner is here." Will Drew snarled as he heard the guard mocking him. There were a few downsides to being in such a high security prison. He probably should have stopped at his fifth kill, instead of pushing to twenty two. "I don't think you need it though. Is it alright if I have it?" He closed his eyes as the laughs echoed through the door. "Joking, jeez. I'll just leave it here…" He reopened them as he heard the small slit in the door open. The food came in on a metal triangular tray, the material covered in gunk.

Suddenly, before the guard realised, he was running towards the door. Will kicked the tray back, causing it to shoot towards the guard, and slicing open his throat. He grinned as the body fell to the floor with a thump, gaining the attention of the other prisoners. His hand slid along the corpse through the bars, and he curled his fingers around a metal ring, four keys jangling on it.

He tried the first.

 _Click._

Then the second.

 _Click._

The third.

 _Click._

The fourth.

 _Clock._

The door creaked open as he pushed on it, a smile on his face. He was vaguely aware that the alarm was ringing. Footsteps thudded down the hallway, as the guards headed towards his direction. Looking around for something to arm himself with, he picked up the tray, and also grabbed the guard's gun. He frowned when he realised that safety was on, and flicked the switch off.

 _Thud, thud._

He raised his head as guards streamed into the hallway, their guns aiming at him.

"Freeze!" One of them yelled. A sly grin made its way to his mouth.

"Hell no." Instantly, they opened fire. Will ducked his head and held up the tray like a shield, bullets ricocheting off of the metal surface.

 _Bang! Bang! Bang!_

He pointed his gun at one of the guards, and pulled the trigger.

 _Bang!_

With a hole through the head, the guard fell down, shocking the others. Using the brief moment of shock to his advantage, Will aimed the barrel at another, enjoying the looks on the faces of the others as their comrade fell.

 _Bang! Bang! Bang!_

The guards fell, one by one. When there was only one left, he threw his tray at the final guard's chest, knocking him over, before his face was crushed by Will's heel.

"Thanks." He mocked drily, taking the tray out of the dead guard's chest. "Turns out I don't need dinner after all." He hesitated as he was walking out the door, noting the release button. He couldn't just waltz out of here. There'd be more guards. Too many for him to handle. He needed a distraction. One press of this button, and every cell would open. All the prisoners, loose one the streets. When a bunch of prisoners get loose, you don't just try to catch one. You try to catch all of them.

He pressed the button. He watched, smiling, as the cell doors opened.

"Enjoy your freedom." He muttered as he walked out. "It won't last long."

 **xXx**

"Chief, something's happened!" Clay groaned as Officer Dunn walked into his office.

"Tell me later, Dunn. I've got plans with my son." Dunn shook his head. "I don't give a crap what plans you have with your son Clay, this is much more important. Someone pressed the release button. Every criminal in the Hurricane Jail is out." Clay shot up instantly. "What? Get every officer out there. Every. One." He stormed out, leaving Dunn speechless for a moment. "Hey, what are you gonna tell your son?" He yelled at Clay as the latter walked out. "He'll understand, Dunn. He takes this stuff passionately."

 **xXx**

It was no surprise that The Scourge heard about the released prisoners before the police had. William had been watching the prison security cameras, observing the man name Will Drew. He'd done research on Drew. Like William, he had killed. Like William, he had felt that he needed more. But unlike William, he hadn't stopped. He'd kept killing, his thirst for blood growing stronger every time his blade pierced the flesh of another, until they had caught him. Only then had he stopped. But the moment he got the chance, he started again. Four kills, right off the bat. William had been watching. So he had told the others, and instantly, they began suiting up. And although they didn't realise it, so did he.

"How many do you think are going to die?" Charlie asked Arty suddenly.

"Huh?" He was surprised when she asked the question. "They're going to run out of flowers." She whispered. "There won't be enough of them. They're going to run out." Now he was confused. She was entranced by something, something which he didn't understand, which none of them did. This was something new.

"We spend so much time laying flowers at the feet of a dead man's bed. Why don't we give those to the living?" Arty frowned.

"What are you saying?" He asked her. "Just think about it. The dead stay dead. They move on, or they decide to stay, like William. Nothing can be done about that. But we spend more time grieving over the dead, than those who are going to die." He looked at her, wondering why she was thinking about this now, of all times.

"Did Carlton say something?" He asked her, trying to figure out what was wrong with her. She shrugged.

"Maybe." Arty sighed. "Listen, Charlie-" "Don't." She said, cutting him off. "Please, just don't." And that was all she would say. End of discussion.

"What the hell?!" Charlie and Arty both turned around, surprised as Jessica screamed while walking down the stairs. "Why is there a purple guy in our basement?!" Their heads shifted again, and they saw what Jessica was so worked up about.

There was indeed a man in their basement. He was standing in the corner of the room, wearing a purple sack with eye holes over his head, and purple rags over where his body should have been, except it wasn't there. Instead in its place, there was an empty mass, which the rags were draped over.

"It's just me." William's hollow voice echoed out of the sack. "No need to panic." Jessica sighed and sat down on the stairs.

"Well, you scared the sh*t out of me." Charlie raised an eyebrow, Arty just looking thoughtfully.

"Where did you get the suit?" He asked, as William walked towards them. "This was the first mask I ever used when I killed. After that I switched to Spring Bonnie." Arty frowned. "What the hell are you doing in it though?" William's head perked up. "It's not like I'm going to be making a major difference while possessing a computer in this case, Arty. I'm going with you idiots tonight, so you don't die."

Charlie sighed.

"Well, this'll be fun."

 **xXx**

Clay was right when he had assumed Carlton would understand. He understood, all right. With people, running in the streets, shooting bullets like maniacs, and breaking into stores stealing random assortments of utilities, of course he did. It was just that he didn't completely understand why his dad and the rest of the force were just walking out there, like lambs to the slaughter. As for The Scourge? He couldn't care less about whether they lived or died. He wanted them gone, forever.

 _Screech!_

Oh yeah, and there were masked thugs trying to break into his house. Wonderful. He headed upstairs, hoping his dad hadn't taken the second gun. To his relief, he found it where it always was, under the loose floorboard in the master bedroom.

 _Crash!_

Carlton jumped as he heard his front door being smashed over downstairs. He gripped the handle of the gun, and began walking down the stairs silently.

 _Creak!_

He spun to the left and pulled the trigger, making a hole in the skull of a burly man. Blood spurted out for a few seconds as Carlton watched the man fall to the floor. He had killed someone.

 **xXx**

Charlie watched the flood of orange flow down the road, perching on the roof of a petrol station. She hadn't actually seen them until now, but their yells had floated towards her from hundreds of metres away. Jessica stood beside her, silently observing them through the eyeholes in the mask.

"How do you want to go about this?" She asked Charlie, who shrugged in response.

"It's probably best to stick around up here. Pick them off slowly." Jessica raised an eyebrow. "They'll see us." Charlie nodded. "Yeah. But they'll too busy dealing with William. Arty's going to flank them." Jessica dropped her jaw. "You made this whole plan and told me nothing?" Charlie sighed. "Did you really need to know anything?" She shot back. "Uh…"

 _Bang!_

Jessica flinched as Charlie fired the first shot, slashing a huge gash in a man's throat, killing him.

 _Bang!_

The next one hit a man in the leg, causing him to keel over in pain before his head was crushed by the stampede. But now they were beginning to notice the two perched on the roof, and as their glares slowly fixed on them one by one, Jessica became more and more aware of the number of men who were armed with guns.

She nudged Charlie and pointed at the guns.

"Um…" Then they all pulled the trigger. Bullets flew and ricocheted as Charlie and Jessica ran off the roof, headed for a nearby alley.

"C'mon!" Charlie yelled as Jessica's shoulder plate was shot, causing her to stumble. "I'm coming!" she screamed back, and bit her lip.

"Sh*t." Charlie exclaimed as she saw several figures heading towards them from the other side of the alley. When they turned around, they were met with even more of them, all armed to the tooth. Charlie raised her blades and began firing like crazy. But there was a problem. These men could dodge. They were more experienced, meaning more trouble. However, one of her springlocks lodged itself into ones shoulder, knocking him out.

There was no way out of this. If she or Jessica tried to get up the walls, they would be peppered with bullets. The ground shook a little from the thud of their footsteps. They were dead, even if William and Arty arrived.

 _Smash!_

Suddenly, a huge yellow bear appeared in front of them. A black top hat sat on his head, a bowtie on his chest. In his left hand he held a spiked microphone. Charlie realised suddenly where she knew this bear from. It had been one of her father's prototypes of Fredbear.

Suddenly, the bear's head began floating, the rest of its body crumbling to the ground, and men began screaming as they realised that it was being supported on its own; there was no one in the suit. The head began to grow, until it was the size of three men put together.

Then it began to chomp. It flew forward and gnashed its teeth, decapitating bodies and slashing legs and arms, dismembering limbs, and crushing skulls. The men began to scream, but the bear was done. It killed them all in a flash, destroying their minds with one last image of a floating bear head before their death.

Suddenly the parts began to form back into a body, and the head shrank till it fit on the neck of the suit. He looked at them both and smiled.

"Hey guys. It's been a while." Charlie stared, bewildered, and looked down at his feet. He was floating.


	9. Wolf Blood

**Yay, my hiatus is over!**

 **Let Me Breathe will only be written when I'm stuck with Stage 01. Otherwise, this the main priority.**

 **Also, please don't hate on my for being predictive.**

 **Welp, enjoy!**

Chapter 9

Wolf Blood

It had been the golden bear that day. She didn't know then, but she knew it now. After Fredbear's, William must have dumped the Spring Bonnie suit. Instead he used Fredbear, to kill five this time. And it had worked. But Michael had been the last of them. The last one. And since there were five bodies and four suits, he had to put the last victim in the springlock suit. Fredbear, or Golden Freddy.

And now, floating in front of her was that very same suit. In her heart she already knew who the suit was.

"Michael?" She asked, tears leaking from her eyes. She hurried to take of the mask so her tears wouldn't trip the few locks she had decided to leave in. "Michael." The bear smiled.

"Yeah." Jessica didn't say anything. She just stared at the bear, unable to comprehend what was happening. Then she pulled him into a hug, forcing him to the ground. Tears streamed from her eyes.

"Michael." He looked down at her and smiled. "Hi Jessica." He said calmly, seemingly unaware that he had showed up again after being presumed dead for 15 years. "Where the heck have you been all this time?!" A cheeky grin was permanently plastered on his face; the cost of inhabiting the suit of on animatronic. "Dead, in a back room. You can thank William for that one later." Charlie opened her mouth, then shut it instantly.

"How do you know his name?" She asked. He tensed up a little. "I, uh…" He moved his eyes slowly between Charlie and Jessica. "…I did some research after I escaped the room." Charlie raised an eyebrow at him. "Really? It's been 15 years, and you're lying."

 _But I don't want to._

He frowned at her comment.

"Come on guys. Let's not talk about that right now. You said it yourself; it's been 15 years."

 _He's right._

"Ok." She muttered, the fact that he had lied still on her mind. "How are you able to…?" She waved her hand in the air. "You know. The hocus pocus giant head stuff."

"There are a few advantages from being dead. Not that I'd suggest it, though." He said, quickly adding the last part after seeing Charlie's expression. "Listen, uh-" Michael looked around. "Maybe we should talk later. I need to go get my group-"

"Your group?" Jessica asked, stepping forward. "What group?"

"The group that's been covering for The Scourge, making alibis for the current vigilantes. I guess you could call us… your phantoms." There was a way he said the word which made her shudder.

 _Phantoms. The phantoms of The Scourge._

"Well, I'll be back before long. Leave a few for us." He winked at them, then teleported away to who knows where.

Charlie was speechless.

 _Michael is alive._

All of these years she had never considered it to be a possibility. And now she was here with Jessica, having met him, alive (or at least awakened) in an animatronic host. And he had been here longer than he was letting on; she knew that. Hell, he even had his own vigilante group! This "Phantom" Scourge, who had been covering up for them for who knew how long. He'd had their backs since the beginning of this crusade.

"You ok?" Jessica asked her. Charlie clenched her fist.

"Yeah. I think so." "Let's talk about this later. Right now we need to get Will Drew's head." "Right." She'd almost forgotten about the problem at hand. In the distance, she could hear the cries of the criminals as they were slowly taken down. She knew Arty could take bullets; Jessica's staff had barely penetrated his armour. As for William, he was a ghost. He couldn't die. But for her and Jessica? They'd be completely screwed if they went back out there. And yet they both knew they had to do something.

Charlie sighed.

"C'mon." This was going to be a long night.

 **xXx**

The man's body at his feet, Carlton stepped back, climbing the stairs backwards.

 _No. No no no no._

He wondered what his friends would think of him. What Charlie would think of him. Although he couldn't remember the last part of their meeting, he recalled something along the lines of Charlie making an extremely unconvincing excuse, tripping on the way out, and flipping him the bird. He wasn't sure what he'd done, but probably something bad. It must have been bad, maybe personal for her.

 _Creak._

His attention shifted back to the creaking floorboards.

 _Right, still in a warzone. On your feet, soldier._

 _Yes dad._

 **xXx**

Unlike Arty, who was constantly being peppered by gunfire, William was having a blast. While he'd been alive, he'd developed a piece of technology which he'd called an Illusion Chip. It simply sent out signal waves which let the imagination of the brain take over from logic; so instead of seeing a man in a purple rag suit, which clearly screamed slasher killer, they saw a terrifying monster; what they would expect in his place.

He slashed wildly at the crowd, laughing maniacally as his gleaming blade cut through flesh, causing thick red blood to run plentifully from the fallen bodies of his foes. Arty meanwhile, was weaving and dodging as bullets ricocheted off his armour, casting silver threads and peppering peoples' bodies with holes as his silver arrowheads were fired out and retracted back.

"Hey!" Charlie yelled as she ran into the fray, slicing heads and other body parts as Jessica followed after her, armour plates shooting off to the sides to clear their path, connected to the core with steel wire cables.

"Took you long enough." William said dryly, thrusting out his hand and sending several people flying backwards into the crowd. "Don't worry, we left you a decent amount." Charlie rolled her eyes as she fired springlocks into the oncoming crowd. "Jeez, thanks. Best gift _ever_."

"Be grateful we managed to take out so many." Arty growled. "Where the hell have you guys been?"

 _Where have we been?_

"We met an old friend." Jessica explained, spinning her staff and striking someone in the back. "Apparently he's going to send reinforcements." Arty smirked as he waved his hand, sending out his blades, and stabbing a man in the stomach.

"Who was he, your ex?" Charlie frowned.

"Oh, shut up. No, he wasn't. I never dated anyone else."

"Yeah, well those reinforcements could be real helpful." William growled. "There's quite a lot of these fuckers. Help yourself, there's heaps to go around."

 **xXx**

Whatever the local police may have thought, Will Drew didn't stand among the massive crowd of people. Instead he simply watched from the back. Watching, and waiting, following behind as the crowd moved forward. Whatever he may have been, he wasn't a leader. He preferred to let other people, or things, do the work for him. Then he would go in and steal whatever they were about to claim. But at this time, he wasn't looking for kills. He was scrounging on the ground, searching for something which he could use.

There wasn't much. Shards of broken grass littered the road, and the corpses of policemen were scattered around, their limbs bent into disjointed angles. Oh, and the blood? There was plenty, spilling over the street like some kind of post-apocalyptic city. But the carnage didn't satisfy him; mostly because it wasn't caused by _him_. It was the work of others, and so to him it meant nothing.

His hands passed over the cement, eyes sweeping across the road, looking for anything which seemed significant.

 _There._

He hurried over, and picked up a small, thin disk. There was no obvious purpose for it, but Will instantly knew that it was something special. In actuality, the disk was one of William's Illusion Chips which had fallen off of him. But Will didn't know that, as he surveyed the piece of machinery. He stuck it in his jacket pocket, which he'd stolen from a clothing store during all of the chaos. Right then and there, he decided to figure out what the chip did.

 **xXx**

When Michael teleported back to Freddy's, no one was in the Dining Room. It left him fairly worried, with all the rioting going on. Had everyone already left, to join the fighting? He doubted it; he had told them to stay put.

The Safe Room, then. Something clicked inside of him. Yes, that was where they would be. All three of them were probably holed up in that room, staring at the bloodstained walls and daydreaming of a better time. Thinking of that made Michael feel a bit sad; however, what had to be done had to be done.

Teleporting inside the secret room, he found that he was right. Sonia, Martin and Jane were all there, sitting cross-legged staring into nothingness. He clicked his fingers, expecting them to snap out of their daze. However, they were all unresponsive. Just like how he'd found them. He scowled, and dropped his mic on the floor, causing a massive bang of sound. Instantly, all three of them stopped staring at the wall and turned to face him, scrambling to stand up.

"I should've expected the three of you to be in here." He grumbled. "Although I think I won't growl at you for too long; you at least geared up."

That in itself was a relief. If they hadn't, he probably would've thrown a massive fit. Luckily, Sonia's half broken Chica head was propped on her face, and Martin's burnt Puppet mask was on as well. As for Jane, she only wore a Mangle bottom jaw, covering the lower part of her face.

"Alright, here's the deal. We're gonna go out, and flank the idiots from behind. Someone's already attempted to do that, and he got peppered by bullets. That's why we're going to do this sneakily, and not get shot. Because seriously, I don't want to have to clean your corpses off the floor."

No fear was in their eyes as they looked at him. Only respect. He wished it was the same for him; he was full of fear. Every night, he would dream. And he would see a man in a golden bear suit, beckoning him. Along with four other children, he would go, walking into the room. Then the trap was sprung, and the man took off the head. But the nightmare would always stop there, and would go no further. Because the man's identity didn't matter.

"One question." Sonia said to him. He sighed, suddenly hating how sceptical she always was.

"What?" He asked. "You never told us who we're backing up. Do you mind telling us?" He looked in each of their eyes.

"The Scourge."

 **xXx**

Will fidgeted with the disk as he sat at the bar. When he'd found the chip on the ground, he'd doubled back away from the action, and instead went into the local Hurricane bar, JR's. The bar itself was located next to a road going through the woods. It hadn't too hard to find; he just followed the cars.

However, he wasn't drinking as he sat there on his bar stool. Every bit of his being was focused on the disk, and what the hell it was. What could this tiny piece of technology do? That was the only question on his mind; nothing else mattered.

There was no obvious way to turn it on, or activate it. So far, the only thing he'd found was a small slit in the back of the disk. There was a small switch in the slit, which he had flipped on and off on his way to the bar, certain that it would do something. However, nothing had happened.

But now, he flipped it again. This time there was something else. A high pitched whining noise echoed from the chip, and suddenly everybody dropped whatever they were doing, and turned to face him. Then there was the first scream.

"Wolf!" He felt someone stab a knife into his side as he stood up.

"Argh!" Red blood spilled from the wound, and he ran out the door into the woods, howling at the moon.

The way wolves do.


	10. Foxy, Foxy

**This story is part of the 'The Banishers' universe, and takes place during the events of Let Me Breathe and Strangers But In Dreams.**

 **Disclaimer: I do not own Five Nights at Freddy's. Five Nights at Freddy's belongs to Scott Cawthon. I do NOT own any of the characters currently featured in this fic, apart from Sonia, Martin and Jane.**

 **Replying to Reviews:**

 **To Katoptris12: Indeed, that scenario is quite odd when I think it over. I recall it actually being one of Will's friends who was meant to stab him, and that the scene was meant to be extended, but I got lazy and posted the chapter anyways.**

 **To DinoGirlJ: I'm glad you're enjoying the story! It's great to hear how much you guys enjoy it :)**

 **Please view my profile if you wish for more information on 'The Banishers', or any of my other stories.**

 **Enjoy the chapter, and read and review :)**

 **WARNING TO SENSITIVE READERS: Blood and Gore, Implication of Abuse**

Chapter 10

Foxy, Foxy

"I saw a wolf! We all did!"

 _A wolf._

"What do you mean, a wolf?" Clay Burke asked, as the startled man shook on his chair. "T-There was this… this guy. He was sitting next to me, and right before my eyes, I didn't see him anymore, I was j-just looking at a-"

 _A wolf._

It sounded insane to Clay's ears. A man didn't simply change into a wolf. Werewolves didn't exist, just like pixies, giants and dragons.

 _Then explain what the hell that was._

There was always a logical explanation for everything, he knew that for sure. But sometimes logic just wasn't what people expected it to be. Sometimes, there was something else than just the laws of science.

 _There's magic. Mystical shit._

But how did you explain that kind of crap to man who wouldn't believe in God to save his own life? A man like Officer Dunn. Or maybe even Carlton.

Speaking of which, what the hell had happened to the kid? Clay had left him at home, and as he thought about it now, that had been a terrible mistake. Was he dead, or injured?

 _Or he's sitting on the couch, thinking why the hell his dad wasn't trying to fix the bigger problem; the people storming the streets._

How was he supposed to explain? He couldn't exactly turn up on the front door and say 'Hey sorry about not trying to stop the escaped criminals, but we're all fucking cowards in this department.' And if he was to say that, he would be completely right.

"Hey, everyone!" Clay turned his head as he heard someone yelling outside. "The wolf's back!" Instantly he stood up and ran out with the rest of the people in the bar, careful not to push anyone over.

"Over there, I saw him over there!" There was a man, pointing at the trees. Although it was night, and the shadows of the trees darkened the area even more, Clay could see something moving in the darkness. In the dim moonlight, it looked somewhat silver; just like how the people had described the wolf.

"Stay back!" The people obeyed, shifting to make a path for him as he walked slowly towards the woods.

 _Crack!_

He stopped, listening as branches began to crack near the trees. After a few moments he began to walk again, listening for even the smallest movement. But there was none. And he saw nothing either.

 _It was nothing; just your imaginations._

But that didn't explain how the other man had seen too. How exactly did that happen?

"Hey." A whisper emerged from the trees, causing him to jump back. "Hey!" The whisper returned, louder this time. Clay edged forward as the voice beckoned him into the trees. "Relax, I'm not going to kill you." He was fully into the wood now, obscured from the sight of the many people who had watched him go in. He never realised how long he would be in the woods; or who was in them with him.

 **xXx**

The way Clay walked was near silent. But even then, the other person still heard him.

"Who's there?" He shouted, receiving a groan for a reply.

"God, you took forever." He turned around, and was met face to face with Charlie; or at least her mask. "What th-?" Charlie covered his mouth, staring him in the eyes. "Shut. Up." He looked at her, and stopped struggling once he saw the look in her eyes. "We don't have time for this shit."

"As if you can define the word shit." Charlie tilted her head. "Right now as far as I'm concerned, the only important thing is those excuses for human beings rampaging on the streets. And I've got a question; what the hell are the police doing to fix this?"

 _And there's the question._

Clay sighed, head hanging.

"Oh, don't drown in your own pity. I'm tired of you fuck heads." She growled. "My point is, you better go out there and do something. I don't like having to work with you, but we can't be in two places at the same time."

"What would you have me do?" He asked bitterly. "Clean up the streets." Charlie replied, looking him in the eye. "Just make sure the situation doesn't get any crazier than it already is. We'll deal with Drew." Clay frowned. "How do you expect to find him?" He asked. "Drew will be different now. He'll be trying to figure out what's going on. He's nameless now, and nameless men are predictable." She explained.

"What do you mean when you say that he's nameless?" Clay inquired.

"He was the wolf which the people think they saw." Charlie said. "He picked something up, some kind of chip which changes peoples' perception of things based on their past experiences. He turned it on, and he hasn't turned it off. He doesn't know what he is now; he'll start seeing things differently, and people will see him differently. His name, Will Drew, is no longer part of him, simply a shadow which trails behind him. He's just nameless."

"So how do you expect to be able to deal with him?" Clay asked. "If he shows up as peoples' greatest fears or something, won't he be unstoppable?" Charlie snickered.

"It may not seem like it, but Will Drew is still a man. And as long as he is a man…" She began walking back into the darkness, among the trees.

"He can die."

 **xXx**

Pain. Unbearable pain, the bane of sanity. When pain knocked on the door of your mind, all you could do was let it in. And that was where the insanity began. Because when pain was the guest in your house, you couldn't think straight, you couldn't understand, all you could do was weep. And that was all he did. Inside, outside, what did it matter? Just that no one knew you were still a man.

Will continued to crawl through the trees, his hand clutching his wound as blood continued to spill. His feet continued to drag in the dirt, and his heart felt like it was trying to jump out of his chest. The man who had stabbed him…he'd seen him as a wolf. A monster. Was he still a man?

"No men hide in the trees like monsters." Will frantically turned around, only to see nothing but trees. "What did it turn you into?" Swivelling his head around, he found himself staring at Charlie's mask.

"A…a monster." He muttered, disbelief coursing through his mind. "It made me a monster." Charlie chuckled and drew her blade, pointing it at him.

"You don't look like one. Now you're just a snivelling human being." She taunted. "Looks like the chip failed you." Will glared at her angrily, and felt around for the chip in his pocket. He started smiling as he realised something when he felt it; the switch was in the off position.

"Or maybe it didn't." Will grinned as he let his finger slide the switch back into place. The following effect was almost immediate. Charlie instantly jumped back, dropping her blade.

"What the-?" Will used her panic to punch her in the stomach, sending her flying back into a tree.

 _Crack!_

Charlie groaned, and looked up again at Will; or not. She wasn't seeing him, he knew that much. She was seeing something terrible. Something twisted from her past. Just the thought of it filled him with glee, and he began to rain down blows against her armoured body.

"HAHAHA!" He grinned with delight as he saw blood begin to pool on the ground. "This is awesome!" He was so distracted from the sadistic pleasure, he didn't notice Charlie slowly drawing her second sword, and pointing it towards him.

 _Bang!_

Will flew back as Charlie's bullet entered his chest, blood spilling outwards.

"You forgot to keep an eye out." She muttered weakly, though still smirking. Will looked up, and realised that Charlie wasn't there anymore. Instead, it was another woman, glaring at him with a gaze he had known to fear as a child.

"Mum." Instantly he began to scramble away, yelping as the vision continued to blur.

"You've been a bad boy." His 'mum' said viciously, walking towards him. "No, ma! No, I swear I haven't!" He yelled, beginning to cry out. "Bad boy!" She screamed as Will ran, now limping from not one, but two wounds.

Charlie sighed, falling backwards and staring up at the sky.

"Please God, don't make me do that again."

 **xXx**

Michael grinned as he threw his spike microphone, causing someone to drop to the floor. Martin, Sonia and Jane were with him, picking off people from the back. Jane, armed with her bow, was spearing people in the back with a deadly eye. Sonia was using her specialised sniper rifle, and sending bullets into the heads of criminals before they could react. Martin was the unlucky one; he was using blazing flails, which in comparison to the others' weapons, weren't exactly stealthy.

"When do you think the police will show up?" Sonia asked quietly.

"Who knows?" Michael replied. "Probably hiding in their houses, like cowards." Jane rolled her eyes, and aimed her bow.

"As if. Maybe they're coming now." Michael shook his head again. "I doubt that."

They continued to pick off the criminals from behind, and the trail of bodies began to increase.

"We aren't getting anywhere with this." Sonia muttered suddenly. "If we set a trap ahead of them, we could take 'em all out easily." Michael rolled his eyes.

"You're talking about clustering them together. Baiting them." Sonia nodded, and Michael frowned. "It's a good idea, but who's going to be the bait?"

Martin whistled, and looked ahead.

"I think they've got that covered that covered." He said, and Michael frowned. But then he realised what was going on. Sirens were wailing.

 **xXx**

"I'm fine." Charlie muttered, and Jessica frowned.

"You're definitely not. That guy did a number on you." She said, and began bandaging Charlie's arm. "It wasn't that bad. I'll live."

"What happened?" Jessica asked, and Charlie frowned.

"The Illusion Chip scared me good." She admitted. "I was a crying pile of flesh before I managed to put myself back together."

"What did you see?" Charlie flinched at her friend's question, then sighed.

"When I was younger, there was this…endoskeleton thing. It was in the corner of my dad's workshop, chained to the wall. And all it did was twitch, and sometimes stare at me. It had these burning silver eyes. Those were pretty much the only things I had nightmares of." She explained. There was a moment of silence, before Arty spoke up.

"Well, what's our next move?" He asked, as William appeared next to the table Charlie was lying on.

"Will's going to try and associate with his old self. Maybe try to find another victim." She said. "After all, he's not sure what he is."

"So what do we do, just have one of us walk out there and wait?" Jessica asked, before frowning when she saw Charlie's face. "Oh god. That's your plan." The latter grinned, and looked towards William.

"It's pretty much the only option we have." He admitted reluctantly, Arty agreeing with a quick nod. "Well, you're in no shape to go out there." Jessica said, and Charlie nodded. "I wasn't thinking of that." Jessica took a moment to process what she had just said.

"Wait a second…" She sighed, and frowned. "Fine. I'll try to bait him. But if I die, I'm blaming you guys." She growled. The others mumbled words of agreement, and Jessica sighed. "Alright then. Let's go catch ourselves a wolf."

 **xXx**

Will watched gleefully as he saw Jessica walk down the empty road. The bullet and knife had done a pretty bad number on him, but he could still walk. And he needed to get back to what he was good at. And that was killing.

Jessica had stopped to take out her phone, and apparently dial someone. Probably her boyfriend. He grinned as she turned her back to him, and prepared to lunge at her.

 _Slash!_

"Goddamnit!" He screamed in agony, as William's blade made an enormous gash in his arm. Will howled at the moon, and began running away.

Will waited, and looked at Jessica, who gave him a shrug.

"Well, let's follow him." She said, pressing the button on her arm that caused her armour to cover her body. He nodded, and looked back at Charlie. She was limping slightly, but she gave him a thumbs up.

"Good job." She grinned, and pointed at the trail of blood Which Will had left behind. "This is just too easy."

 **xXx**

"A train yard?" William wondered aloud, as the blood trail stopped as a mass of rails and abandoned husks of steel. A few metres ahead of them was Will, crouching and looking at his reflection in a puddle.

"Let's just deal with him." Charlie muttered, drawing her blades. "We can chat about the scenery later." Will swiftly turned around at her voice, and sighed.

"Well, look at this." He muttered. "Four against one; a little unfair, don't you think?"

"Not at all." William growled. "You've gone too far, Drew. This city is falling." For a moment, Charlie saw a grinning wolf in Will's place. "It deserves to fall. It was destined to fall, and _I_ am the one who did it." He grinned, a sense of glee overtaking him again. "All that's left is to kill you motherfuckers."

"Keep him distracted; I've got a plan." William hissed before teleporting away as Will lunged at them.

"Surprise! HAHA!" He cried out madly as his form briefly changed to a metal endoskeleton, silver eyes blazing. Charlie staggered briefly, before shooting him in the shoulder. Jessica shot her claw forward, gripping his neck and slamming him into a train, causing it to tip over.

"Argh!" He screamed, as Arty flicked his fingers, silver arrowheads flying out and causing several punctures in his chest. Suddenly, the train which he was currently stuck to began to move, and he clung onto it desperately.

Charlie stared at the scene in confusion, before grinning as she realised what was happening.

"William, you sneaky bastard." She laughed, as another train on the other side of the track also began to move. William appeared next to her, and something about his tone of voice told her he would have been grimacing.

"Get him in between!" He yelled, and the others began to run towards the trains. Will let go, and began to run back towards them.

"Get back!" Charlie yelled, firing a springlock into his leg, causing him to yell. Arty rushed forward, and smashed him back with his wings. Will scrambled to get up, as the trains began to close in.

"No!" He screamed and frantically began to drag himself away.

"NOO-!"

 _Smash!_

 _Bang!_

Charlie and the others watched, mesmerised as the trains collided, and exploded. Will's flaming body was thrown up into the air, before it swiftly fell into the puddle he had been staring at earlier. He gurgled and spat, blood oozing out of his mouth as they arrived at his body. He looked at Charlie briefly, and grinned one last time.

"Hi there, Ma." He croaked, before his eyes went glassy, and his body stopped twitching. There was a moment of silence, as The Scourge waited for something to happen. After a while, Charlie crouched down and began to dig around in Will's pocket.

"What are you doing?" Jessica asked, and Charlie frowned.

"Start going home. I need to talk to William." Jessica gave Arty a bewildered look, who shrugged.

"C'mon, let's go." He muttered, looking back strangely at Charlie before walking away with Jessica.

Charlie scowled as she finally managed to get what she was looking for; the Illusion Chip.

"Listen, William." She said as she stood back up, and faced him. "I know about the things you've done." He flinched in his purple suit, and Charlie sighed. "I've seen the blueprints. The tech is incredible. You mastered the touch screen a few decades before the others." William frowned at her.  
"What is it?" He asked, and Charlie placed the chip in the palm of his hand, looking him in the eye.

"I want you to teach me." William stared at her for a few moments, taking in what she said.

"You want me, of all people…" He motioned at himself in confusion. "…to teach you?" She nodded, and he frowned on the inside for the moment.

"Alright." He said, and she lit up. "However, there is one thing I need you to promise." William told her, and Charlie nodded. "You can't tell anyone what I show you or tell you about." Charlie hesitated for a moment, but nodded.

"Alright then." He said, as they began to walk after Jessica and Arty. "I discovered something with your father, many years ago. We weren't sure what it was at first, but it was real powerful." William began, and Charlie looked at him.

"What was it?" She asked, and William looked at the moon for a moment, and thought that it looked just a little bit like what they had found, all those years ago.

"We called it remnant."


	11. Chasing Masks

**This story is part of the 'The Banishers' universe, and takes place during the events of Armageddon: Let Me Breathe and Strangers But In Dreams.**

 **Disclaimer: I do not own Five Nights at Freddy's. Five Nights at Freddy's belongs to Scott Cawthon. I do NOT own any of the characters currently featured in this fic, apart from Sonia, Martin and Jane.**

 **This is the longest chapter in the story so far._. Wow.**

 **Sorry this has been dead for a while, but I've been updating my story Tears That Scar (not connected to The Banishers), which is a 'Night Guard Survival' story, taking place in an AU. Check it out, if you're interested in those kinds of stories :)**

 **Shameless self-promotion aside, enjoy the chapter!**

Chapter 11

Chasing Masks

"Crazy week, huh?" Charlie looked up at Carlton, and nodded.

"Yeah. I'm glad it's over." She said. They were sitting in the restaurant where they had met last time; Carlton had asked to meet, and Charlie had accepted. They had mostly just been chatting over food, and she liked it that way. She recalled how their last meeting had ended, and shuddered.

"How's your dad?" She asked, and Carlton shrugged.

"He's working his butt off to catch The Scourge. He's pissed as hell that he had to work with them when Drew did his thing." Carlton explained, and Charlie shrugged. "That's understandable." She frowned as she saw him looking nervously at his empty plate.

"What's wrong?" She asked, and Carlton tensed.

"Charlie, there's a reason I wanted to meet you." He said, and instantly she drooped down a little bit. "My dad…" he looked at her, and sighed. "He thinks you're Springtrap."

To her surprise, Charlie found that she wasn't surprised by this. She hadn't talked to Clay recently, but she knew that he had always been extremely perceptive.

"You know, because you arrived a few days before-"

"Springtrap showed up." She fake sighed as she finished his sentence. "Yeah, I realised that." They looked at each other awkwardly for a few moments, before Carlton spoke again.

"So uh…don't do anything stupid, alright?" Charlie rolled her eyes.

"As if _I'm_ the one who's going to do anything stupid." Carlton smiled a bit, before he stood up. "Well, this has been nice." He said, and she shrugged. "Yeah. It was good to see you…properly." She said, and he laughed.

"Yeah, alright. See you around." He said, before leaving. Charlie rolled her eyes as she realised she would have to pay the bill. It then struck her that sooner or later, she'd have to get a job.

"Darn it." She muttered, glaring out the window. "Well, as long as it isn't minimum wage."

 **xXx**

"Alright, remember that you've got to inject it where the soul needs to function." William explained as Charlie growled. He was attempting to teach her how to inject remnant into machines, and so far, she had failed. "Relax. If the soul is agitated, the fusion will fail." He told her, and she rolled her eyes.

"Fine." She muttered, and pressed the needle into one of the exposed red wires.

"Hold it in place." He said, and watched impatiently. Suddenly, a red light began to blink, and William laughed. "You've got it!" He said, and Charlie stared curiously at the machine which she had made, unsure if it would work. It was a gauntlet of sorts, fitting perfectly over her hand. The idea had been that the gauntlet would be able to control spirits, whose power was 10 times that of humans. But it wasn't exactly an easy thing to design. She'd spent hours poring over the Afton Robotics blueprints, and had hardly come up with any ideas; that was, until Jessica had randomly asked Charlie whether she had fingerless gloves.

And so here she was, about to test the strength of a machine which could potentially blow up the house. Cautiously Charlie slipped the gauntlet over her hand, and looked towards William.

"Well, go on then." He coaxed, and she sighed.

"Here goes nothing." She muttered, clenching her hand into a fist. Instantly half of the objects on the table went flying, and both Charlie and William cringed. "I'll, uh…" She said. "…I'll clean that up."

"At least it worked." William muttered, as Charlie took off the gauntlet and started picking up the fallen bolts and wires. "Perhaps, but it was still unstable. I need to find a way to direct the energy." She said. He shrugged as Charlie placed the fallen parts onto the table. "There."

"I'm surprised you haven't directed it yet." William admitted, and she frowned.

"I only found out about freaking soul juice a little while ago," She huffed angrily. "And I only _just_ figured out how to inject the Remnant in properly."

"And that's what surprised me." He told her in a tone which screamed _don't piss me off_. Charlie made a low growl, and William's head (really just a sack) snapped in her direction, a strange coldness in the empty eyeholes. "Is there a problem?" He asked coldly, and she sighed.

"…no." A grunt of satisfaction told her he was finished, and she rolled her eyes. When Charlie had asked William to teach her, she hadn't expected it to be all fun and games, not at all. But she hadn't been prepared for, as William called it, the 'Darkest pit of Hell, waiting to swallow you whole'. So her progress had been slow, mostly because her teacher was an asshole, but also because she was almost forcing him to be with her attitude.

"Work on it." William told her before walking upstairs, cursing every few steps. "And make sure your math isn't off. If it is, we all die."

 **xXx**

Jessica thought it was odd when the car pulled into the driveway of her house. She wasn't expecting any visitors, and the only close friends she had were from The Scourge. What surprised her even more was Carlton stepping out of the car, and walking up the path. Before he could even knock the door, Jessica opened it.

"What?" She asked, glancing at Carlton's hand, still raised to knock. "Something up?"

"Um, yeah." He looked at the floor sheepishly, and she stepped aside. "Come in." He walked in quietly, and Jessica shut the door. As she looked at him, she noticed a suspicious bulge in his back pocket, and swallowed.

"Carlton. What's in your back pocket?" Jessica asked, half casually and half threateningly.

"Ah." He looked at the bulge and sighed. "Dad's making me carry a gun, with all the shit happening recently." Instantly she calmed down after hearing Carlton's explanation, any suspicions she had quickly disintegrating.

"So, what's up?" Jessica asked, and he sighed.

"Listen, have you…noticed anything off about Charlie?" She blinked, puzzled at his question. "In what way? Charlie's a naturally weird person." That wasn't a lie. Charlie had always been naturally awkward. She had a habit of speaking in non sequiturs, and often had deep, one-sided conversations with inanimate objects. And this wasn't even just with her toys; Jessica could vividly remember a time when Charlie had tried to ask a table what it was like having 4 legs. The conversation had lasted for an hour before she stomped off, and told Jessica "He was pretty rude. Maybe he's just shy, though."

"Like, you see her a lot, right?" Carlton asked, and she nodded.

"Yeah, of course." He sat down into her favourite armchair, and her left eye twitched a little, though he didn't notice. "Have you noticed her, uh, acting weird? Or, I dunno, not being around at certain times?" Jessica frowned, as she realised what this conversation was about. "I talked to her. I just feel like she's…lying. She wasn't surprised at all when I told her that dad thinks she's Springtrap."

Jessica tensed unintentionally, and Carlton frowned.

"You okay?" She waved him off, not really listening as she thought to herself. If he suspected her that badly, he probably would have gone and investigated the matter himself. He'd always been the adventurous type.

She shook her head, and sat down in the chair opposite.

"No, she's been around most of the time. When we're not together, she'll always be with her…" Jessica's eye twitched again. "Boyfriend."

Carlton almost laughed, his hand covering his mouth.

"Charlie has a _boyfriend_?" It came as a huge shock to him. Charlie, the only one of their group who had no other friends. Charlie, whose only form of socialisation was going to a party, sitting in the corner and doing nothing. That antisocial girl he'd known for so many years actually had a _boyfriend_?

"Yeah. He's actually not that bad. I reckon they're actually good for each other. They used to go to school together, apparently." Carlton smiled a little as he stood up.

"That explains a lot of things. I mean, why she's always missing, that is." Jessica grinned back, but was now looking at the bulge again. Something about the conversation they'd just had was making her nervous. The fact that someone had even connected Charlie to the murders, to the bodies; it was worrying.

After letting Carlton out, waving him goodbye and shutting the door, she pulled out her phone and dialled Charlie.

"Hey, it's Charlie, uh, leave a message." Jessica stared at the phone, growling and hanging up. She didn't leave messages; they were always risky. Her conversations with Charlie over the phone were always no more than 15 seconds long. It was their way of staying hidden. And she hated to stay hidden. To hide in the shadows, and let people pass by without even knowing you were there. But that was her world. Always just waiting, and hiding, until the sun went down.

Suddenly the phone began to ring again, and Jessica almost dropped it when she saw who was calling.

 _Charlie._

Quickly she answered the call, as her friend's voice came through.

"Jessica." Charlie said, and she smiled.

"Charlie. Uh…we've…" She eyed Carlton's car exiting the driveway and swallowed hard. "…got a little bit of a problem." A chuckle came through from the other side, and she frowned. "What is it?"

"It's funny you should say that. I just called to tell you the same thing." Panic shot through her as she started walking to the door.

"Are you alright?"

"Yeah. It's nothing I can't handle by myself, but don't come to my house. Not until I call you again. This may take a while. Stay inside, and definitely don't go on the road."

"Why? What's wrong?"

"Shit, I've gotta go. If you see Carlton, don't let him in. I think he suspects me." Before Jessica could say anything, Charlie hung up.

"Shit."

 **xXx**

 **6 minutes earlier**

An unfamiliar car pulling into the driveway was never a good sign; even worse when the windscreen was covered in bullet holes, and spider webs of glass. The blue paint had been mostly either scraped off, or rusted over, and from what Charlie could see of the driver, he was a pretty rough dude. He was a muscular man, wearing a black jacket and matching pitch black shades as he smoked a cigarette; probably weed, from what she knew about the people living in Hurricane. A tattoo stretched down his right arm, reading 'HELL IS FOR THE DEVIL'. Whatever that meant, it didn't seem like something your typical nice guy would say.

The man next to him was skinnier, wearing a plain light blue shirt. His hair was shaggy and fell down to his shoulders. Charlie could see his yellowed teeth as he grimaced, and the two men exited the car.

"Dammit Johnny, we'll never be able to get out of town like this!" The first man growled, and Johnny frowned with irritation.

"It's alright, I reckon we could-" He stopped at the sound of Charlie opening the front door. "Shit. I'll deal with this chick, Blake."

"What are you doing here?" She asked, motioning to the house. "You better have a pretty good reason." These men, whoever they were, didn't seem like good ones. Charlie had seen her share of good men. Her father, who'd loved and cared for her even while his inner demons ate away at his mind. Chief Burke, who might be trying to catch her, but had Hurricane's best interests in mind. These men? They were the opposites. They cast off a feeling of coldness, and their aggression was visible in their eyes even from the window of her house.

"Car's in bad shape. Needed to stop." Johnny told her, and Charlie realised his eyes weren't actually looking at her face; they were focusing on something a little lower. Quickly, she pulled her green jacket around herself, and walked towards him.

"You don't say. What happened? Run in with the cops? Shootout with the Paper Faces?" The last one had been intended as a joke, but apparently they both understood the gravity of the phrase.

"…it got damaged in the flood. Took a beating from those shots." Blake explained, and Charlie frowned as she walked around the car, taking in the damage.

"No way was this all from the flood. I was there; they only got a few shots off before their remains were floating down the road." Johnny cursed under his breath as she reached the trunk. Charlie gave him a sneaky grin as she placed her hands on top.

"Hey, don't open-" She flung it open, hardly reacting to what was inside. A man's body, wrapped in towels with a bullet hole present in his chest. His face was wrapped up so she couldn't see who it was, but she had a pretty good feeling that it wasn't someone she knew.

"Step away from the car, bitch." Charlie felt a gun being pressed to the back of her head, and grimaced. Blake's breath smelt terrible; that was only one of the consequences of smoking. "I said step away." Suddenly she laughed, shrugging her shoulders as she staggered back a few steps. The two men looked at her in confusion, as she clutched a side of their car.

"You're fleeing the city because you killed someone. That has got to be-" She coughed a little, before continuing. "That's gotta be the dumbest thing I've ever heard. Will Drew killed more than 20 people, and when he escaped from prison he decided to stay. Ennard and his gang had been around here for a whole 10 years before they were killed. And you guys-you're leaving after killing _one_ person? God, you've gotta be the biggest wimps I've ever lay my eyes on." Johnny looked uncomfortable as Charlie grinned.

"So shoot me. What does it gain you? You'll just have another body to hide. And believe me, you don't want it to be mine." Her expression darkened as Johnny spoke up.

"So…are you going to, uh…you know..." She shook her head. "Nope. I'm not interested in telling anyone. Hell, if you payed me I'd even fix your car." She chuckled as Blake frowned.

"Do you even know how?" He asked, and her expression turned serious. "I can do it. I just need 10 minutes." Johnny laughed, but stopped when he saw Charlie's expression.

"Jesus. You're serious." She shrugged, and headed back inside the house. "I'll be back in just a minute." As soon as she was inside, she pulled out her phone and noticed that she had a missed call.

"Shit." She called her friend back, waiting for an answer.

"Jessica."

 **xXx**

Carlton gave his father a thoughtful glance, before looking back at his desk. Before him was a set of pictures from the street flood, in surprisingly high quality. There was one of Ennard as the car rammed into his body, sending his organs flying. Then there was one of Soggy Bunny's body, and Plate Kid when he was found drowned in the car. Mache Bear hadn't been found; he'd probably ended up in the sewer, to be honest.

But the only one which really meant anything was also the only blurry picture. It was of a girl with long brown hair, dressed in a green jacket, white shirt and jeans. And she was standing on a platform of wood, the blurry form of Plate Kid behind her. The girl was Charlie.

The picture had only just been sent in; apparently the person who'd taken it had lost the camera. But damn if Carlton wasn't mad. He almost wished he'd never received the bloody picture. That he didn't have to feel his blood crawl and his anger burn at his heart whenever he saw his friend. The fact that it even came to this; he couldn't believe something like that. Charlie wasn't a heroic person. She wasn't brave or fearless; she was smart, sure, but she was still as afraid of the dark as the next person.

Or at least she had been 10 years ago. Something had happened; something had changed her. The old Charlie was gone, and now it was almost like she'd been replaced. By some sort of clone, maybe even a twin sister. But she wasn't the Charlie he'd known all those years ago. The naïve girl he and the others had played with and laughed with.

"Have you identified the other girl in the picture?" Carlton asked his father, who shook his head grimly.

"Brown ponytail and a pink shirt. Could be anyone. But the other girl…" Clay headed over to Carlton's desk and tapped Charlie in the low resolution picture. "…she's definitely Charlie." He grunted something as a response, and kept staring at the other girl. "Dad. Does this seem wrong to you? That we're doing this?" Clay gave his son a bewildered look.

"What do you mean?"

"Charlie's probably Springtrap. We've got a picture of her being present in a freaking gun fight, something completely out of character for her. But we-I-I don't want her to be caught, for some reason. I mean, she might have done some terrible things, but she's still my friend. And Jessica says that when they're not together, she's always with her…her boyfriend." Clay snorted when Carlton paused, and sighed. "I've got a strange feeling that you're thinking something similar."

He frowned as his son gave him a strange look.

"I…why would you think that?"

"Well, there's the fact that you haven't arrested her yet."

Clay snorted and clicked his tongue. "There isn't enough evidence to arrest her."

"That's bullshit, and you and I both know it. Ennard broadcasted footage of him killing a girl after Springtrap and The Mangle didn't reveal their identities, and guess who that girl was? Oh right, the bitch who was a jerk to Charlie and Jessica at school. Then the screen cuts out, and 5 hours later, there's a flood raging downtown with Charlie and another girl shooting at Ennard and The Children of the Masks. So fucking look me in the eye, and tell me that isn't enough evidence."

Clay sighed, defeated, before suddenly perking up.

"Wait a second. You said the girl was a dickhead to both Charlie _and_ Jessica?"

"Yeah? So what?" Carlton asked, before cursing as realisation hit him. "Shit. Jessica's the other girl, isn't she? Brown ponytail, pink shirt-yeah, that sounds like her. And then there's Charlie's boyfriend, who I found out about literally the day after the shit went down with Drew, and a week after we found that corpse with the scattered wounds. Shit, they could all be in on it."

"You really love her, don't you?" He whipped around at his dad's remark, scowling at the grin on his face. "You keep on bringing up her boyfriend. It's like you hate him or something, even though you haven't met him."

"Shut up, dad."

"I mean, she's a good looking girl. It's no surprise that you're into her."

"Dad, I told you. Shut the fuck up."

"And to think you only broke up with Jessica a few weeks before she arrived…"

"DAD!"

 **xXx**

"Are you sure it'll work?" Blake asked, and Charlie frowned.

"It's a work in progress. But I designed it myself." She wiggle her fingers, currently fitted inside of the gauntlet. Her talk with William had given her an idea; remnant only worked when the 'soul' wasn't agitated. He was either referring to her own soul, or the remnant itself. If he was talking about the souls who powered the gauntlet…all she had to do was speak to them. And tell them what she needed.

Charlie walked to the car, and squatted so she could place her hand against the scraped metal.

 _Fix this._

Nothing happened. She clenched her teeth, and tried again.

 _I said fix it._

The car was still motionless, and both Blake and Johnny were making doubtful noises.

 _FUCKING FIX IT!_

Something underneath the car snapped, and the two men jumped back. The holes in the windows began to repair themselves, and metal creaked as it welded itself back into shape.

"Holy shit." Charlie muttered as the gauntlet began to glow a bright green. "It's actually working." The car was making some sort of groaning sound, as if someone was inside of it. One of the shattered headlights began to glow as the other continued repairing itself. The peeling paint was also beginning to fall off, and reappearing on its own.

With a sudden creak, when all of the damage was undone, the car let out a creak, and came to a shuddering halt.

"Well, you owe me that 5000 bucks." Charlie said with a grin after a period of silence. "And the extra 500 for keeping silent about the body." Johnny sighed and pulled out his wallet. After handing her the money, the two men entered their car and backed off the driveway, disappearing down the road.

She sighed as she went back into the house, checking the time. 7:50 pm. She had time to go after them. With a jolt, Charlie realised what she'd done. She'd exploited those men. Men who she was now planning to go after. She'd fixed their damn car, and was about to go and shoot it up again. Did she…regret doing what she'd done today?

As she descended the stairs and smiled upon seeing her armour she realised something. She didn't regret what she'd done today. Not one bit. And in the morning, Johnny and Blake would be found dead in their car, springlocks drilled into their heads.

 **xXx**

"We gotta turn left."

"Bullshit. We've still got a few hundred metres."

"Oi, I'm the one who calls the shots, Blake. And I'm telling you, we're supposed to turn left here."

The two of them had been bickering for the past 30 minutes, their minds no longer really focused on leaving town. Their minds were mostly thinking about Charlie, and the miracle she had pulled off with the gauntlet.

"Hey, Johnny. What do you think about that chick from earlier?" Blake asked as his friend swerved left.

"I dunno, Blake. That was kind of…mind blowing."

"How she fixed it, or her body?"

"Fuck off, Blake."

"Just saying man, I saw you eyeing her every moment she wasn't looking."

"So were you."

"Ah, true."

They were silent for a few moments, before Johnny suddenly planted his foot on the brakes. The car skidded to a halt, and Blake jolted, having forgotten to put on his seat belt.

"The fuck, Johnny?"

"Quiet. There's someone on the road." Both men fell silent as the figure came into the light. Tall green bunny ears, exposed wires, decaying fabric and a metal ribcage.

"Shit! Drive back! Drive back!" The car began to move backwards as Charlie ran towards them, a smile on her face underneath the mask. She raised her hand and clenched it into a fist, thinking a single command.

 _Flip._

The car did exactly that, flipping backwards and landing back the right way up, though when Johnny tried to start it up, the engine failed.

"Shit! Shit! The bitch sold us out!" Blake began to panic, as Charlie approached them, smashing the window with her fist.

"I can hear you from outside." She said coldly. "And I hate it when people call me a bitch." Johnny's blood ran cold when he heard her voice.

"No fucking way." He breathed heavily, as Charlie lifted the mask off her head, revealing her face. She would have looked beautiful, if not for the scowl on her face.

"I kept my promise. I never told anyone about that body in your trunk. They'll just find it in the morning, with you two. I didn't need to tell anyone. I just had to come and kill you myself." With that, she lined up the barrel with Johnny's head, and pulled the trigger. The following sound made her stagger back a little from the shock, as the springlock went right through Johnny, and came out, bloodied and covered with guts, slamming into Blake's forehead. Blood splattered against Charlie's face, but she really didn't care. She smiled as she sheathed her sword, and spoke a single word.

"Bang."

 **xXx**

Carlton shuddered when he heard the crash. 11:55 pm was pretty late for him, and even if he didn't believe in things which went bump in the night, that didn't mean he wasn't paranoid. He would have been home by now, if it wasn't for that goddamn picture. Of Charlie and the other girl (almost certainly Jessica), standing in that flood, in the centre of the carnage which had taken place that day. He'd stared at that that image for hours, just…thinking.

And so he was coming home late at night, and he'd heard that stupid crash, something he'd come to regret forever. At first, Carlton wanted to turn away. And maybe he should have, and just ran home, burying his problems. But he couldn't resist. What if someone was in trouble? What if they needed help?

Sighing, he treaded backwards, turning the corner and exiting from the other side of the dark alley. He stopped and shuddered, not even noticing the figure as he saw the car, its windows shattered and something smoking from inside the hood. The bodies of Johnny and Blake were slumped over, blood pouring from their wounds, expressions of fear frozen on their faces. And then the figure moved, and he saw.

Long brown hair was spilling from her shoulders, the blood of her victims now staining it. Her helmet was tucked under her arm, its empty eyeholes staring and its gaping smile disturbing. And then there was her face. It was splattered with blood, and the expression on her face made it almost unrecognisable, but as soon as she turned her head and their eyes met, he gasped.

"Charlie."


	12. Dark Matter

**This story is part of the 'The Banishers' universe, and takes place during the events of Armageddon: Let Me Breathe and Strangers But In Dreams.**

 **Disclaimer: I do not own Five Nights at Freddy's. Five Nights at Freddy's belongs to Scott Cawthon. I do NOT own any of the characters currently featured in this fic, apart from Sonia, Martin and Jane.**

 **Enjoy the chapter!**

Chapter 12

Dark Matter

"Shit." Charlie froze as Carlton called her name. As they stared at each other, she was filled with a realisation of what was happening.

 _He knows._

 _He saw._

 _He'll tell Clay._

 _Shit, shit, shit…_

"Charlie." He repeated, and she snapped back into what was happening.

"No…no way…" Charlie whispered to herself, looking down at the mask she was holding. "I knew I shouldn't have taken it off."

"Charlie, what are you-what are…" Carlton was babbling now, his suspicions confirmed. Charlie was Springtrap. That meant that Jessica was The Mangle, and that her boyfriend, whatever his name was, wore the mask of the third member of The Scourge. The picture, all those stories his dad told him…all those stories were true.

 _She's gone now. She's changed. Something's happened._

"I…" Suddenly, Carlton pulled his gun from his back pocket, and pointed it at her. "I'm sorry." Charlie stared at the barrel of the gun, and a new feeling rippled through her.

 _Anger._

"You can't." She said angrily, and took a step forward.

"Stay back!" He yelled, keeping it trained on her chest. "Don't make me shoot you?"

"What's stopping you?" Charlie growled, spreading her arms wide. "You've got a clean shot. I bet you've killed someone before, Carlton. What's making it so hard this time?"

"Stop it! Don't come any closer! Please! I don't want to-I don't want to…" His voice faltered as Charlie stood in front of him, her eyes blazing anger. "I'm right here, Carlton, I'm right here. You could pull that trigger, and I'd be dead. So why don't you?"

His finger was around the trigger. All it would take was to pull it. And then the town would be free of the deaths, the murders. Maybe The Scourge would destabilise without their leader. Perhaps they'd even disband.

 _Pull it._

 _No._

 _Pull it._

 _I can't._

 _Pull it._

 _NO!_

Carlton threw the gun to the ground, and slumped over.

"No." If Charlie was surprised by this outcome, she didn't show it. Calmly she walked over to the gun, squatted down and picked it up, examining it.

"Well, either you didn't want to shoot me, or you were hella angry with yourself." When he looked at her with a confused expression, she tossed the gun back to him, standing up. "It wasn't loaded." She giggled as a dumbfounded expression took over his face, and he looked at the gun.

"No fucking way."

"Way." Charlie looked at Carlton, and sighed. "Well? What are you going to do now?" She asked him, and he frowned. "I…" He stared at the sky for a moment or two. "What happened to you, Charlie? I remember what you were back then, all those years ago. You weren't like this. What changed?"

She thought for a moment, and sat down on the road, crossing her legs.

"I guess I...I wanted to do something that would change the world for the better. Whether that change was against the law didn't concern me at the time. Nothing about me changed, Carlton. I just figured out who I am. I figured out who I'm meant to be."

Carlton joined her, and fingered his gun, repeatedly pulling the trigger.

 _Click. Click. Click._

"You did, Charlie. You changed this town. Hurricane…The Scourge has changed it." He turned towards her, and frowned as he said his next words. "And I don't think it was for the better." Charlie shrugged, and tucked her hair behind her ear.

" _We_ changed it. I did what I did because I had to. I did what I did because he-"

 _Because he told me to._

"He what?" Carlton asked. "Who's he? What did he do?" What exactly had William done? He'd told her something, all those months ago.

"He told me to right his wrongs." Charlie looked back briefly at the bodies of Johnny and Blake, and swallowed. "Do you know who the first person I killed was?" When he shook his head, she tilted her own, and looked down at the Springtrap head clutched in her hands. "I went out for dinner one day. And then I made the stupid mistake of going down the alleyway. Like, who the fuck goes down alleyways anyway?" She laughed, pausing for a moment.

"A man came out. Looked pretty banged up, like he'd just taken his drugs for the week. Asked for money. With a knife. I should have run. I really should have. But then I remembered that I had the mask in my bag." Carlton gulped as he realised where this was going. Charlie breathed deeply, before continuing. "I turned around, fished around inside, and pretended to look for my non-existent money. Once he was right behind me, I-I…I slammed the mask right onto his fucking face. I fucking slammed it, so that the blood spurted before the locks even tripped. And when they did, I didn't try to stop them. I watched those things cut into his neck, and then I watched him bleed to death."

"You…you did what?" Carlton gaped as Charlie looked at him, passing him the mask. He held it for a few moments, staring into the head's empty eyes.

"That night, I felt a new part of myself, Carlton. It was something I'd never felt, a pleasure which before I had only dreamed of. It wasn't power, or bloodlust. No, this was different. I…I felt change. Not of me, but of the entire world. Like killing that man had somehow triggered an event, something that hadn't arrived yet, but would be here soon. And I don't think I was that thing. I was just a pawn in a universal game of chess, an expendable soldier in a raging battle. But I found my place in the universe. And I'm staying. I'm going to do what I need to do."

Charlie took back the mask, and hugged it against her chest.

"I'm gonna make it right. Everything's gonna be alright in the end." Carlton frowned, and looked at the sky.

"I won't tell dad. But I won't help you, either." She shrugged as she stood, placing the mask back on her head. "That's fair. I'll see you around."

The springs in Charlie's legs began to coil, and then they released, launching her over the buildings. Carlton sighed, and pocketed his gun as he took one last glance at the bodies in the car. Next time, he'd make sure it was loaded.

 **xXx**

"Wait, so he knows?"

"Yeah."

"Isn't that bad?"

"He said he wouldn't tell. He's not that bad, Arty."

"I don't trust him."

"You don't know Carlton. Trust me, he's a man of his word."

Charlie stared out the window dreamily, ignoring Arty's accusations. It was a nice day today; the weather wasn't too bad, and the clouds were non-existent. She took a bite out of her toast as he continued to ramble on.

"You don't know if he's changed at all, over the past 10 years. You changed. Jessica probably changed. For all you know, Carlton's developed the ability to lie as well as you do." She chuckled at that, leaning back a little as she looked back at the restaurant, countless happy families enjoying their meals.

"Yeah, as if. Listen Arty, I get that you don't trust him. So trust _me_. And I promise you, he's not a bad guy. He'll keep his promise, even if it means taking the secret to the grave. Like, killing himself. Not a joke."

"Well, if you insist." Arty muttered, sighing. "I'll bear with him for now."

Suddenly the door to the restaurant opened, and Charlie smirked.

"I'll hold you to that promise." He turned around, and scowled when he saw who was walking in.

"You called him here?" She snickered, shaking her head at his question. "Nope. But I do love coincidences."

"Hey Charlie." Carlton said awkwardly, glancing at Arty. "Uh, who's this?"

"Carlton. Uh, this is Arty."

"Boyfriend?" He asked, and both of them laughed. "Uh, no. We're not…officially dating." Arty snickered at the look on Carlton's face, as he tried to imagine what he was thinking.

"What are you doing here anyways?"

"Breakfast. Like you, I'm assuming." Charlie gritted her teeth, and looked around the restaurant.

"Shit, Arty. He's gone." Arty's whipped around, a scowl on his face. "Crap, uh..."

"I'll go." She told him, before taking off out the door.

"Hey what's going on?" Carlton asked, and Arty frowned. "You already know, right?"

"You mean the vigilantism? Yeah, of course."

"Yeah. So we've tracking a serial rapist for the past week, and we happened to see him come in. So Charlie said we should go inside and follow him, so we sat down and ordered some food. And of course she's ran off now, so I'm the one left with the bill." He spread out his hands dramatically as Carlton sat down, accidentally getting himself hit in the face by Arty's hand.

"Wow. You mean the guy from the motel? You're kidding." The only answer he got was a smirk, and a knowing shrug. "How did you even find out what he looked like?"

"Ah, that? Well, your firewall is the weakest I've ever seen. And I haven't exactly seen properly for a long time, but you get my point. I even let William do it, and his hacking skills are worse than Charlie's." Carlton blinked at the response, trying to figure out what he was talking about.

"Ok, so first of all, what do you mean by you not having seen properly for a long time? And who the fuck is William?" Arty smirked and looked out the window, and laughed. "Looks like she's caught our rapist." Carlton turned to see what he meant, and gaped at the sight of Charlie dragging a man by the leg, his arms flailing as he screamed something incomprehensible. Her forehead was covered in blood, but the wound didn't seem to affect her as she tossed the man aside and walked into the restaurant.

"Call your dad." She flashed him a smile before running back out, Arty right behind her. Sighing, Carlton dialled his father's number, waiting for him to pick up.

"Hey there, kid. What's up?" Clay asked over the phone, and he bit his lip. "Dad, we…uh, we've got our rapist." There was a spluttering sound, as if his father had just spat out whatever he'd been drinking. "You're kidding. How'd you catch him?"

"Uh, I didn't. Charlie did. She saw him and tracked him to a restaurant. I'm in there right now."

"How did she know it was him?" Clay questioned, and Carlton shrugged, before remembering his father couldn't see him. "I haven't asked her. She ran out of the restaurant right after realising he wasn't there." His father laughed, and it sounded like he was taking another sip of whatever he was drinking. "Alright, I'll send some men over there. See you in a bit."

"Alright bye. And dad?"

"Mm?"

"Stop with the booze. You sound drunk." There was a pause on the other end, before his father hung up the phone.

Carlton sighed as he looked outside at Charlie talking about something with Arty, as the man continued to try and crawl away. Every time he moved, she would step on his back, causing him to smirk just a little.

 _God, Charlie. I wish I hadn't seen you last night._

Last night everything had changed. He'd seen her for what she truly was. A murderer. And yet he couldn't stop himself from loving her, even if she didn't love him back. She had a boyfriend now. Or, a 'sort of' boyfriend. Either way, she was in love with someone else. It was time to move on, past his stupid crush which had lasted from his childhood. When Charlie had left, he'd fallen for Jessica. And they'd had plenty of good times together, sure. But then they'd broken up, because he'd been a stupid idiot.

A crash resounded from the kitchen, and Carlton jolted in his chair, snapping his head around. A dark mist was now emerging from the kitchen, and the lights of the entire room were beginning to flicker randomly. More crashes were heard, as a brawl apparently continued to rage on through the dark mist.

As he stood up to get a better look at the darkness, a light began to grow from its centre, blinding him.

"What the-" And then the building exploded, sending Carlton, along with almost everyone else, smashing into the walls. And then there was darkness.

 **xXx**

"Crap! Arty, take care of him!" Charlie charged into the flaming wreck of the building, taking note of the damage. A few lucky people had been blown out of the windows, but several of them were still inside. Frantically, she ran inside and began to search for bodies in the dim light.

 _There's no way that it should be this dark. It doesn't make sense._

Finally she came to an arm, sticking out of a pile of rubble. Charlie began to pull off the broken boards and cracked tiles, and realised who she was uncovering.

 _Carlton._

His face looked lifeless, his eyelids shut and a fresh cut bleeding on his cheek.

"Fuck. Shit, no, please don't be dead…" She muttered to herself as she worked, digging away at the rubble until she could see his chest. Wrapping her arms around him, Charlie pulled with all her might, ignoring the pain in her arms as the building continued to burn around them.

"Come on! Don't die on me! Help me out here a little! Please!" She clenched her teeth as someone ran past her in the darkness, carrying someone. At least a few people were getting out.

"Argh!" Finally his body pulled away, and Charlie thrusted him onto her back as she began to head outside, her heels digging into the floor as Carlton's weight continued to dig into her. As she reached the door, she could see Arty running up to her, still pulling the man by the hair.

"God, Charlie! Are you alright?" He asked worriedly as she set down Carlton's body, staggering a little.

"I…need…" And then she fainted, her head hitting the ground with a crack.

"Fuck. Fucking hell, no…" Arty rolled her over, and gaped at her appearance. The wound on her forehead was bleeding rapidly all over her burnt face, and her green jacket was singed. Her left arm looked like it was broken, and her white shirt and jeans were ripped open. Luckily she was still breathing, but it sounded strained.

Sirens sounded from the left, and Arty watched as several police cars pulled over at the wreckage, red and blue light flashing bright. One of the men rushed right out of his car, and ran to Carlton's side.

"Shit. Carlton, come on, kiddo." His eyes slowly fluttered open as he was tapped on the side of his face.

"Dad?"

"Oh, thank god." Carlton found himself pulled into a massive hug, as Clay muttered words of apology. "Jesus dad, you're crushing me." Suddenly his eyes turned to Charlie's body, and his face fell. "Fuck dad, look at Charlie."

Clay didn't need to ask as he turned his head towards her, and gasped.

"Oh god." He ran over to her, and sighed. "Why does this stuff always happen to you?"

"Disaster always hits the people who don't deserve it, huh?" He looked up at Arty, who was stroking her hair. "You know, she wasn't even in the building when it blew up. She just _had_ to run in there and pull Carlton out of the flames."

Clay stared at Charlie's face, and swallowed.

"She pulled him out?" He muttered to himself, and Arty sighed.

"Yeah. She always had to be the bloody hero all the time. I would have helped her, but she told me to take care of this idiot." He motioned towards the man, who was still struggling against his grip.

"Is that…?"

"Uh huh. The bastard from the motel." Clay rose, and walked over to him. "I'll bring him in. The fire brigade and ambulance will be here soon. I trust you'll take care of her until then." Arty nodded grimly, and let go of the man's hair. Clay promptly grabbed him, and started to drag the struggling man away.

"How long have you two been dating anyway?" Arty chuckled, and looked up at him. "We're not. We owed each other one kiss. That's all that happened."

"Huh. What's your name, kid?" He gave him a blank face, then went back to stroking Charlie's hair.

"My name's Arty. Arty Bishop."

As Clay walked away, pulling the screaming man behind him, his mind went to searching up that name, and what he might find when he did.

 **xXx**

When Charlie could finally see again, it was difficult to tell. The floor and the walls were still dark, and she could hardly move. Every time she tried, pain shot up her body, and even then she could only wiggle. She wasn't lying down, she realised; she was being suspended in mid-air, by dark tendrils of mist which were wrapped around her body, pinning her arms to her sides.

The only sources of light in the darkness were two glowing white orbs, a few metres in front of her. Every 5 seconds or so, they would blink out in perfect unison, then reilluminate. Almost like…eyes. Charlie froze as the orbs began to move towards her, revealing the figure who'd been in front of her this whole time.

It was a rabbit, like Bonnie, but its body looked smoother. The plastic costume shell which it bore was pitch black, allowing the rabbit to blend in perfectly with the darkness. The rabbit opened its mouth to speak, revealing a glowing row of white teeth.

"You know, he told me you'd be harder to catch. But I guess people get paranoid in old age, eh?" The 'Shadow Bonnie' told her sweetly as he strode forwards. "You're a lot less intimidating that I thought, I've got to admit. She's _super_ powerful, and she can wield the power of souls, or something like that. Or I think that's what he said. It was a few days ago." Charlie shifted uncomfortably as the tendrils tightened, and the Shadow Bonnie chuckled.

"Sorry, does it hurt? You know, I don't like killing people. But you see…" He reached for her head, and pulled her towards him. "I was given a chance to set things right. And I'm not going to screw this up."

"W-Who…who are you?" She asked him. Suddenly the orbs went black, leaving her completely in the dark until he began to speak. "You know, Charlie dear, I thought you would know who I am the moment you saw me."

"Don't call me that." She growled. In response, the Shadow Bonnie clicked his fingers, and the tendrils squeezed a little tighter, a smaller one wrapping around her throat.

"Alright then, if you're gonna play that card, play it. I've got a few of my own. Charlotte, say my name." the question seemed insane. How could she know who this person was? He could be anyone underneath that mask. "Come on. Say my name. I know yours, I bet you know mine." Charlie screamed as he placed his right hand against her temple, and pain surged through the bone.

"I said, say my name!"

"I DON'T KNOW IT!" She yelled, and the Shadow Bonnie drew back his hand. "I don't know what your name is! It could be Ben, or Dave, or RWQFS-" He held a single finger to her forehead, sending bolt of pain through her body and cutting her off.

"I'm going to say a first name, and then a last name. Gather what you can from them." He placed his mouth next to her ear, and whispered. "Brandon Brown."

 _Brandon Brown._

Brandon had been one of the victims of The Missing Children Incident. William's 4th kill, if Charlie remembered correctly. What did he mean, saying Brandon's name? He was long dead, his body stuffed inside of Bonnie.

"Brandon Brown is dead." Charlie said shakily as the Shadow Bonnie gave her a sickening grin.

"Brandon's dead. You're right. He was robbed of his life in the restaurant that _your_ father built."

"And you're what, his brother?"

"Smart, smart. He told me that too." This person the Shadow Bonnie kept referring to was beginning to drive her crazy. "What do you want?" Charlie growled. "And who the fuck is 'he'?" The Shadow Bonnie laughed, and for a moment his eyes glowed brighter.

"What I want, is justice. Justice for my brother, and for all those little souls trapped in one place. And you know how I get that justice?" He asked her, and prodded her cheek.

"I'm guessing that it involves you killing me." Charlie guessed, and the Shadow Bonnie cackled. "I was too obvious, wasn't I? I'm a little new to this."

Suddenly the tendrils of darkness loosened, and the pull of gravity shifted to the side, dragging them along.

"What the hell?" Charlie cried out, and the Shadow Bonnie screamed angrily.

"I won't let them wake you up! You'll stay with me in this nightmare, forever!" He screeched as he launched himself through the air. She rolled out of the way as the gravity shifted again, and they tumbled around like clothes in a washing machine.

 _Charlie! Charlie!_

Someone was calling her name. It sounded like Jessica.

 _Charlie!_

"No!" The Shadow Bonnie lunged at her, whipping one of his tendrils at her. Charlie jumped over it as the cries grew louder and louder.

 _CHARLIE!_

Charlie shot up as the darkness crumbled away, looking at Jessica's worried face.

"Charlie?" She said worriedly. "What happened?" Charlie pulled her into a hug, confusing her.

"God, Jessica. I think you just saved my life."


	13. Was it Me?

**This story is part of the 'The Banishers' universe, and takes place during the events of Armageddon: Let Me Breathe and Strangers But in Dreams.**

 **Disclaimer: I do not own Five Nights at Freddy's. Five Nights at Freddy's belongs to Scott Cawthon. I do NOT own any of the characters currently featured in this fic, apart from Sonia, Martin and Jane.**

 **Enjoy! This chapter will conclude this story arc, before we move onto the final arc. It's gonna get crazy. Sorry if it takes a while till then, but I have Strangers But in Dreams, Let Me Breathe, and Tears That Scar to worry about too, not just Stage 01. Thanks for understanding, guys. Or, not understanding. You know.**

Chapter 13

Was It Me?

Sam Brown couldn't remember much about his teenage years, but he always remembered his brother. Brandon had always had a smile on his voice, no matter the situation. He remembered how energetic he used to be as he ran round the playground, laughing along with his friends and playing games of tag which only ended when the parents decided it was time to go. At the very least, Brandon had enjoyed his short life, though Sam still wondered if he'd really affected him at all.

But then there had been the day that Brandon had disappeared. They had been at Freddy's watching the show, when he had tugged Sam's shirt sleeve and asked if they could go to the toilet. He'd been annoyed at first, but eventually he'd given in, and escorted his brother to the restrooms. Samuel had watched Brandon go into the toilet, and stayed outside to wait for him.

The clock ticked. The show ended. Somewhere Foxy the Pirate was singing sea shanties as the children sang along with him. 10 minutes passed, then 20, then half an hour. People came in and out of the toilets. But Brandon didn't come out. Eventually Sam had gotten sick of waiting.

"Brandon?" He had called as he walked into the bathroom. "What's taking so long?" He had ducked down, and looked at the gaps between the cubicle doors and the floor. But there were no feet there. No shoes, no anything.

"Brandon? This isn't funny." Sam had opened the door to every cubicle, and found them all empty except for the usual graffiti left by rebellious teens. "Brandon?!" He'd checked everything over, twice, thrice, until he was completely sure. Brandon wasn't here anymore. He was missing.

 **xXx**

"So he wanted revenge. Against me." Charlie nodded at William.

"Yeah. His brother was Brandon Brown."

"Brandon Brown?" He asked. "The second victim?"

"Yeah. Apparently."

William sighed and began to pace. Jessica gave Charlie a concerned look.

"What do we do about this?" She asked. "We can't just hide from him. He probably knows where you live."

"Then we'll take the fight to him." Charlie replied. William looked at her and tilted his head.

"You mean we go to Freddy's?" He said, and she nodded.

"Yeah. We go to Freddy's."

"But that's Phantom Scourge territory." Jessica pointed out, confused. "Why would this Shadow Bonnie guy go there, of all places? Michael would rip him to shreds."

Charlie frowned.

"See, that's the thing. He isn't _living_ there. He wants to destroy it, for taking his brother. Remember, he had those abilities. Making tendrils of darkness, blowing things up…and then there's the matter of his armour. I don't know why he wears that, but it's infused with that dark energy. Shadow Bonnie, or whatever his name is, told me that he was 'given an opportunity', by 'him'. Someone wants him to succeed. There's another person behind the strings, here."

"So what are we going to do?" Jessica asked. "Just go to Freddy's and wait for him to show up, or maybe even the person who gave him those abilities? That doesn't sound like the best plan."

"I agree." William admitted. "I'm seriously concerned about those abilities he has. How are they even possible? Even with remnant I doubt anyone could do that."

"You healed my body by injecting me with a tiny dose just then." Charlie argued. "You don't know how much it might be able to do."

"No, I don't. But I do know the risks of prodding at a dragon just to see if it can breathe fire."

"Nice analogy."

"Thanks. Thought it up on the spot."

"Are you two done?" Jessica asked, clearing her throat. "We have work to do, you know."

"Right." Charlie clapped her hands. "I'll call Arty. Jessica, you reckon you could call up Michael? We're going to need his team for this one."

"Yeah." Her friend grinned. "I'll do that."

"Cool. William, I need you to find the name of Brandon Brown's brother."

"I'm on it." He said, before shifting his soul into the nearby computer, causing the rags to fall to the ground.

"Alright." Charlie ascended the stairs and opened the basement door. "I'll see you in a minute. Don't leave without me."

 **xXx**

As soon as Jessica had arrived to take Charlie back to her house, Arty had spent an additional 3 minutes trying to convince Carlton that she would be fine.

"She's gotta go to hospital." Carlton continued to press, and Arty sighed.

"William's tech is better than a hospital." He said, and Carlton scowled.

"Do you actually believe that? You haven't even told me who this 'William' person is." He argued.

"Do you really want to know who William is?" When Carlton nodded, Arty frowned. "This is going to be hard to explain. Uh, he's the person who killed all of those kids. At Freddy's." He wasn't sure what to expect from Carlton. He didn't know him too well, but he could already tell that he was a bit of a loose cannon.

"…what? You're kidding. Charlie's working with him?!" He clutched at his head, and began to mutter a string of unintelligible words. "God. Is she crazy or something? I knew that something was wrong…"

"William's actually not that bad." Arty admitted. "I hated him for a little while, considering he killed my brother, but honestly, I never even met him. Plus, he's just trying to right his wrongs."

"So convincing Charlie to become a serial killer was righting his wrongs? What about Jessica? She runs around shooting extendable limbs at people. Is that also William righting his wrongs?"

"In his defence," Arty began, "Jessica was into the killing business before William appeared on the scene. And Charlie agreed because she thought it was the right thing to do. She wants to crime rate to go back down to the way it was before."

"Under 1%." Carlton said drily. "And now it's over 75. Seems a little ambitious, don't you think?"

"Yeah. Honestly, it _is_ a huge goal. But I think we could do it, if we had enough time."

" _If we had enough time_." Carlton echoed. "How much time, Arty? How much time will people spend looking out the windows and expecting people to come in and kill them?"

"The innocents don't have to worry about that." Arty said, stepping aside a little so that a passing police car could go past him. "Just the guilty. I, for one, don't agree with the killing. But I do agree with the idea that criminals should get what they deserve. Charlie and the others are just a little extreme."

"A little? Try a crap ton." Carlton muttered. "I've known Charlie for years. Granted we were separated for 10, but my point is, she's never been like this. And plus, isn't she being a hypocrite, killing murderers when she is one herself?"

"Charlie's got this idea." Arty said. "A really twisted one, that's for sure, but she's been clinging to it for ages. She reckons that one day, she's going to end up dead, as she goes around putting springlocks into peoples' skulls. And she says that'll be the day when she pays for what she's done."

Carlton came to a halt, and frowned.

"That sounds super depressing."

"Yeah, it is. That's why she liked it."

"Since when was Charlie all this gloom and doom?"

"Since William got into her head. He's been teaching her stuff, about robots and souls. You know, she met one of her dead friends last week."

"Really?" Carlton said curiously. "And who would that be?"

"Someone named Michael. He's a giant golden bear now." Arty said, frowning when Carlton spluttered a little.

"Michael?! She met Michael, and she never told me?"

"Calm down. She's still sceptical about it. Charlie told me that she reckons it's another spirit pretending to be Michael."

"That doesn't change anything."

"Oh, damn it." Arty muttered as he saw Clay approaching them.

"Where's Charlie?" he asked, looking over at the still burning building. "The ambulance isn't here yet."

"Jessica took her home." Arty explained. "Charlie's been working on something in her basement. Super regenerative healing tech, or something."

"You know, we could use something like that." Clay mused as he looked at the disaster around them. "Why isn't she…I don't know, letting other people use it?"

"She's sensitive that way. Doesn't like it when other people see her as a tool."

"Still could help though." Carlton rolled his eyes as Clay and Arty continued to chat.

"Charlie told me it's still a prototype. She said it's unstable. She's been testing it on herself. And before you say that's illegal, let me just tell you that it's not harmful when it fails. It just doesn't work."

"Then why isn't she letting people use it?"

"I thought I already told you that…" Arty grumbled to himself. "And you already asked that question."

Suddenly his phone rang, and he pulled it out quickly.

"I've gotta go. Charlie's calling." He said, and Clay held out a hand.

"Wait. Put it on speaker." Arty frowned, and answered the call, pressing the speaker button. Carlton held his breath.

"Arty." Charlie said urgently.

"Charlie. Good to hear your voice." There was hesitation from the other end, before she replied.

"Same with you. Mind coming back? Jessica said she wanted to talk to you."

"Can't you put her on the phone?"

"Nah, she can't even hear me. I'm in bed."

"Ah."

"Right, see you."

"Likewise. Bye." He hung up, and gave clay an odd look. "What was that for? Why'd you want to hear it?"

"Doesn't matter." Clay waved him off, and walked away. "See you around, kid."

"Thank god." Carlton muttered breathlessly.

"Well, what do you know? That stupid code works."

 **xXx**

 _Charlie. Good to hear your voice._

It was a simple code. Completely natural. As soon as she'd heard that, Charlie had tried to figure out all the possibilities of what could be going on. It was probably Clay, to be honest. She knew now that he was suspicious. And he had good reason to be; Charlie really should have covered her tracks better. But that didn't matter now; although they couldn't deceive him forever, they could always arrange for…an accident.

 _Shit._

She was thinking like William now.

"Nope. Nope, no, no, nope, nope. Stop it." She muttered to herself angrily as she paced back and forth in her room. Charlie glanced at Theodore, who stared back with empty eyes. "What do you think we should do about Clay?" She asked him, and frowned when he didn't answer. "You used to talk." She sighed, and sat on the bed.

Suddenly Michael appeared in the room, followed by Arty as he opened the door.

"Well, look at this. Both on time." Charlie grinned, and Michael rolled his eyes.

"Good to see you. Jessica said you needed the Phantom Scourge's help for something." The golden bear said, and Charlie nodded.

"Mm. The explosion at the restaurant? Not a coincidence, apparently. It was caused by Sam Brown, the brother of Brandon Brown."

"The second kid at Freddy's? Fuck."

"Yeah. He has abilities; he can control shadows. He entered my dreams and tried to destroy my brain or something."

"Sounds rough." Arty muttered, and Charlie rolled her eyes.

"Yeah, just a bit." She muttered as she rubbed her temple. "My head's still ringing. I feel like I'm gonna throw up." She stumbled suddenly and put her hand against the wall to support herself.

"You should stay in bed." Michael said worriedly. "It's not a good idea to walk around, in the state you're in." Charlie waved him off weakly.

"The remnant worked fine. I'm alright now. Not exactly feeling great, but I'm okay."

"There you go. You just admitted you're not feeling well." Arty pointed out. "If you don't feel like walking, you shouldn't walk. To be honest, you should probably be sleeping."

"Okay, no." Charlie said, taking her hand off the wall and attempting to stand up straight, only to wince as something popped in her back. "Ah, fuck. But seriously, no. There is NO way that I'm going back to sleep. I can't go back to sleep, not after that. Shit, what if he's still in my head?" She whimpered and hugged herself. "Then as soon as I'm out, he'll come out and try to kill me again. And no one would know. Shit, I can't do this, goddammit."

Michael made a weak sympathetic sound as she sat on her bed, picking up Stanley the unicorn and beginning to stroke him softly.

"Will you wake me up, Stanley? Will you?" Charlie turned the toy unicorn so that he was facing her, and moved him so it looked like he was nodding. "Yay!" She said childishly, and giggled. Arty looked at Michael with a questioning glare, who shrugged.

"She used to do this as a kid." He explained. "She _really_ loved her toys."

"Yeah, I can tell she still does." Arty muttered as he watched Charlie nuzzle Stanley with her nose.

"You were never really one for words, were you Stanley? No, you and Ella were always the silent ones." She said soothingly. "Theodore did all the talking. Remember when he used to speak? He sounded like daddy."

"I'm genuinely concerned for her right now." Arty murmured. "She's going crazy. She's a fucking menace at night, _everyone_ in Hurricane fears Springtrap, and here she is, talking to a toy unicorn while we waste precious time."

"I don't think I would have come if I knew this would happen." Michael admitted reluctantly as Charlie placed Stanley back onto the track. "Didn't you say you had to talk to us about something?" He asked, and she grinned, standing upright.

"Of course. Sorry about that; he gets cranky when I don't talk to him. They all do. I think Ella's whirring. Uh, so here's the crazy, stupid plan. We know that Sam wants revenge on the people responsible for Brandon's death, but they're all dead. Which leaves me, the last person in the line of Freddy's. The owner's daughter." Arty frowned uncomfortably as he began to see where this was going.

"You're going to act as bait, to lure him into some sort of trap?" Michael asked uncertainly. "That doesn't seem like a wise decision. What's the chance that he kills you before we get to him? And where would we even lead him?"

"Simple." Charlie replied. "I go to Freddy's." Both Michael and Arty looked at each other for a moment.

"No." They said at exactly the same time.

"What do you mean?" Charlie asked angrily, waving her arms. "It's the place where his brother died. Memory is a powerful thing. He might get distracted by something in there, and we could take him down."

"At what cost?" Michael berated her. "You could get killed Charlie! Then the rest of us would probably defeat, contain, or kill him, or whatever. But then you're dead? People don't come back from the dead! They stay that way forever!"

"You came back." She argued. "It took you years, but you came back, as this weird, floating Golden Freddy. I could come back. It's possible."

"As Springtrap?" Arty asked, as he frowned. "You really think that's a good idea Charlie?"

"What must be done, must be done. Think about the greater good, guys."

"Greater good, my ass! The greater good, Charlie, is we all walk out of this shit storm alive, with Sam Brown as dead as his brother is! Then we go back to doing what we do, and we can forget this ever happened!"

"What if I don't want to?" Charlie asked, and the two of them froze. "I'm a hypocrite. I kill people because they kill people. I'm just as much as a murderer as Will Drew was. Hell, at this rate I've probably killed more people than he ever could have dreamed of." She looked down and counted with her fingers. "Ennard. The Paper Faces. That man who tried to rob me in the alleyway. Drew himself; shit, I've killed a ton. That's not even half of the people whose lives were cut short by me. And yeah, maybe the crime plummeted. Maybe their deaths changed the world for the better. But that means I've served my purpose, and it's time for me to get what I deserve."

She sat down on the bed, and lightly drummed the covers with her fingers.

"Charlie, you can't be serious." Arty said anxiously. "You-you can't you walk out there, and let yourself get killed!"

"Don't worry." Charlie smiled, and pulled up her right sleeve. Arty's eyes widened as he realised what she was wearing. "I'm not going in defenceless."

"What the hell is that?" Michael asked, and she responded by clicking her fingers with her right hand. The blinking light on the gauntlet flickered, and suddenly Theodore was floating, being pulled up from his chest by an unseen force.

"Oh my god." Arty muttered. "I've never seen it in action."

"No? Well, lucky you. I'm going to go in there, wait till he's right behind me, and give him the surprise of his life." She clicked her fingers again, and Theodore fell back into the chair, automatically going back into his slumped position.

"Well, any questions?" Charlie asked, and Michael made a noise which she guessed was the equivalent to him clearing his throat.

"What do we do once he's down?" He asked, and she frowned.

"We…" She looked at him in the eyes, and clenched her fist. "We'll figure that out once that happens."

 **xXx**

Sam Brown watched from his car as Charlie exited her house. His hand was clenched around the steering wheel as he hummed a short tune to himself, over and over again. He reached down to his left, and absentmindedly patted the black Bonnie head as Charlie got into her rusty blue Honda, and stepped on the gas.

At once Sam started up his own car, turning off his headlights to keep her from noticing him. He could see just fine in the dark; the shadows obeyed him, and darted away as he tailed her. Sam didn't notice the small group of cars following him from a distance, their headlights also switched off.

He frowned when he saw Charlie's car steer into the parking lot of Freddy's.

 _What the hell is she doing?_

He frowned, and parked his car across the street. Grabbing the Bonnie mask, Sam exited his car, and walked across to Freddy's, completely oblivious to the three cars which had also parked on the same side of the street.

Charlie had opened the door to the pizzeria, and was now walking inside. Clenching his fist, Sam followed after her, managing to get in before the rusty door closed. She was standing in the centre of the room when he entered, her back facing towards him. He smiled, and placed the Bonnie head over his own, feeling the shadows begin to curl around him, covering him like armour. She hadn't even realised that he was here.

"Hey there, Bonnie." Charlie said, facing the purple rabbit. "What do you want me to call you? Bonnie, or Brandon? Let's go with Bonnie. It's probably best to forget what happened." Sam frowned, as she took a few steps forward, and placed her hand against the stage.

"You know, it's been a while since I last saw you. A few months now. Does time pass for you guys?" She asked, then sighed. "I guess I didn't make a very good first impression, did I? The last time I was here, I just bolted. Paranoia, am I right? It gets even the best of us." Sam tilted his head, walked forward.

"Your brother is trying to kill me, you know?" He halted as Charlie talked to Bonnie. "He blames my dad, I think. And it's not like I can blame him. I'm the only one left in the line. Pretty sad, huh? You know, maybe he's right. After all the shit I've done, all the people I've killed…I deserve to die." She looked at Bonnie and winked. "What do you think? Jessica always used to tell you her secrets; she told me that. I'm telling you mine. You know, she's right. You do look like a person I could trust."

"What are you blabbering on about, Stillwater?" Charlie whipped around, and sighed.

"And I thought you wouldn't be coming, Sam." He allowed himself a small smile as he stepped forward.

"So you found out my name. I knew you would. It makes these things fun. But you didn't answer my question. People you've killed, shit that you've done…and why on earth," He asked angrily as he pointed at Bonnie, "did you call that thing my _brother_?!"

"I thought you already knew." Charlie said, genuinely confused. "I mean, you're wearing a Bonnie head and everything. I thought it was a symbol, or something."

"What the hell are you talking about? I was given this by Him!" He yelled at her, and she frowned.

"Oh yeah. The mysterious _him_. You still haven't told me who he is."

"And you won't find out." Sam rose his arms, and a sea of black tendrils raced towards Charlie. However, he was shocked when she grinned at him, raising her hand and revealing the gauntlet she wore, thinking a simple command.

 _Disperse._

Suddenly the shadows parted, and Charlie ran towards him, readying the fist. Sam summoned a tendril, and used it to throw a nearby table at her head. She simply waved her hand, and the table changed direction mid-air, and was flung straight towards him. He ducked out of the way as it crashed into the spot he'd been just a few seconds ago, the tiles cracking.

"Guys!" Charlie yelled as she landed a well-placed punch into Sam's head, before grabbing it and bringing it down onto her knee.

"Glad to finally hear your call." Michael said as he teleported into the room, and kicked Sam in the chest, sending him flying back into a row of tables. Then the rest of the group walked through the door, Jessica, William and Martin running towards him while Arty, Sonia and Jane stayed back, and waited for a clear shot.

Sam raised his hand, and a ball of shadows formed in his hand.

"Guys, look out!" Charlie screamed, but it was too late. Sam hurled the ball towards the three, and William and Martin were knocked out of the air. Jessica managed to evade the ball by grappling quickly to the left, and easily jumped over a table which was thrown at her. With incredible agility, she bounded off the floor and twisted in the air, pushing herself off the ceiling as she rushed towards Sam, her mechanical jaw biting menacingly.

He attempted to jump out of the way, but Jessica's teeth tore into his mask, ripping off the left ear. His fist smashed into her stomach, and she gasped for air as she stumbled back, winded. Charlie used her gauntlet to pull him back, before punching him in the leg as he overshot, landing next to the Show Stage.

"Shit!" Sam exclaimed as he cradled his left arm, which was now bent at an unnatural angle. He clicked his fingers with his good arm, and a tidal wave of darkness flew towards his enemies. None of them had any time to react as it swept over them, flinging them all back. A stray arrow from Jane hit him square in the chest, causing him to scream in pain.

Arty stood up, anger in his mechanical eyes as he raised his hand.

"You fucking son of a bitch." He muttered as the bladed strings shot out, and pierced through Sam's right leg, causing him to fall to his knees in agony. "You never should have messed with us. You never should have blown up that restaurant. People died. People died in that explosion. How does that make you any better than the guy who killed your brother? Huh?" William was silent, and Charlie glanced at him sympathetically. "It makes you worse. It makes you a hypocrite. You're exacting revenge on someone who's trying to help this city for the better. Can you really say that you're a better person than the murderer?!"

Sam just knelt there, head hung low as the shadows swirled around him. His glowing eyes dimmed as he took off his mask, revealing his brown hair and grey eyes.

"No." He said quietly. "I can't." No one said anything, as he placed the mask on the tiled floor beside him, tears forming in his eyes. "I'm a murderer. I'm a fucking murderer." He muttered, his face in his hands. "Just kill me now. Kill me. I don't give a care how you do it, but I deserve to die."

They were silent as he looked up at the, the shadows dissipating around him. His face was read, and the tears were beginning to drip onto the floor, each one loud enough so that it echoed through the near silent room.

 _Plink, plink._

"Sonia." Michael tapped Sonia's arm, and pointed at Sam. "Put him out of his misery." She hesitated for a moment, before raising her rifle and lining it up with Sam's head, her finger poised over the trigger.

"NO." Sam stopped crying, and everyone stared as Bonnie took a step forward, jumping off the Show Stage. "DON'T KILL HIM." He said again robotically, and looked down at Sam. "HELLO BROTHER."

"B-B-Brandon?" Sam said disbelievingly as the rabbit patted his head.

"MUM ALWAYS SAID I WOULD BE BIGGER THAN YOU SOME DAY." Bonnie said in an attempt to crack a joke. When he realised that no one was laughing, he became serious. "THAT WAS A _BAD_ THING THAT YOU DID." He said, and knocked Sam on the back. "KILLING BAD. BAD KILLING. I DON'T LIKE KILLING."

"Ok, no killing." Sam said as he rose from his knees. "If that's what you want, then that's what's gonna happen. It's just…" He hugged the rabbit, who stayed still for a few seconds, before hugging him back. "I can't believe it's you."

"COULD YOU NOT?" Bonnie asked, sounding disappointed. "I ALWAYS TRIED TO GET YOUR ATTENTION. I CALLED. I WAVED. I MADE DRAWINGS WITH MY FACE ON THEM THAT SAID 'SAM IT'S ME'. MAYBE I DIDN'T TRY HARD ENOUGH."

"No." Sam muttered. "It was my fault. _I_ was the one who didn't try hard enough."

"I KNOW. BUT I WAS TRYING TO MAKE YOU FEEL BETTER. WHEN YOU CRY YOUR CHEEKS GET PUFFY AND YOU LOOK LIKE AN IDIOT."

"Did you just call me an idiot?"

"YES."

"How do you even know that word? I never told you that…"

"I HEARD YOU ONE TIME."

Jessica sighed as the brothers bickered back and forth, and nudged Charlie.

"Look at that." Charlie grinned as she looked at them and nodded.

"Sweet, huh?"

"More like bittersweet. Sam's discovered that his brother is alive, but is now an animatronic. And the police are going to be looking for someone who can control shadows. Word will get out. He'll have to go into hiding." Charlie gave Jessica an odd look, and shrugged.

"At least we're not killing him. I don't think anyone needs another death on their conscience right now."

"Mm." Charlie looked at her oddly again, before walking up to Sam and tapping him on the shoulder.

"You guys done yet?" She asked, sounding incredibly irritated.

"Right. Sorry." Sam murmured in apology, while Bonnie just made a mechanical whirring sound. "I guess I have to go now. Somewhere else. Far away from this town. He looked at Charlie who frowned.

"Before you go, I need one thing." She said, and he nodded. "The name of the person who gave you these powers."

"You don't want to go after him." Sam said worriedly. "He's powerful."

"I'll decide that for myself."

"No, really." He said. "I've seen his abilities. The stuff I can do? The shadows I can conjure? They're harmless compared to the scale of his power. I doubt I've even seen the extent of it."

"Just tell me what he looks like." Charlie said in a frustrated tone, and Sam frowned.

"That's the thing. I've never seen him before."

"You _what_?!" She said in disbelief. "No way."

"We only spoke." He admitted. "He was always in the shadows, so I never saw his face. But I did get his name."

"And what was that?" He gave her a blank expression, and sighed.

"His name is Abaddon. And he said he needs you dead."


	14. Remember Thy Dead

**It'** _ **s**_ _ **t**_ **he penultim** _ **a**_ **te chapter folks. That is, if you don't count the epilo** _ **g**_ **u** _ **e**_ **as a chap** _ **t**_ **er (I expect most** _ **wo**_ **uld, though).**

 **Here we** _ **s**_ **ee Abaddon, W** _ **h**_ **y he w** _ **a**_ **nts to kill Charlie, an** _ **d**_ **all that juicy stuff that n** _ **o**_ **one really cares about, but** _ **w**_ **hatever. You're not here to listen to me** _ **s**_ **peak gibberish. Y** _ **o**_ **u're here** _ **f**_ **or** _ **the**_ **chapter.**

 **So go on.** _ **D**_ **on't b** _ **e**_ **shy. No, r** _ **e**_ **ally. There's nothing im** _ **p**_ **ortant in thi** _ **s**_ **Author's Note. Not at all. Nope. Nope, nope nope. Nopity nopity nope. No se** _ **c**_ **ret mess** _ **a**_ **ges in the texts. No** _ **pe**_ **. Ignore all those italics. Yup.**

Chapter 14

Remember Thy Dead

 _The darkness was spreading; fanning out through the air, slithering up the walls and spilling over the floor. The small amount of light that trickled through the tiny skylight in the ceiling was soon swallowed up by the black void, as it fed hungrily. And sitting in the middle of it, with his back to the floor, lay an endoskeleton, his lifeless eyes staring and limbs stretched in positions which would have been impossible for the human body._

 _A finger twitched once, then twice, as his eyelids fluttered and his razor sharp teeth began to gnash together. The machine began to rise, his legs twisting back into shape and claws extending from the tips of his fingers. He dug the sharp blades into the wall next to him, and pulled himself up. The darkness was still spreading. The skylight was no longer visible, and now was the closest shadows began to recede, he could see what they had been hiding._

 _There were hundreds of corpses, all piled around him like flies around a bug zapper. They were all different varieties; male, female, young, old, but all of them shared one thing in common; they all had that same terrified expression frozen on their faces. That realisation that they were going to die, and that there was nothing they could do to prevent it.  
The endoskeleton had done this. He'd done it as soon as they had bound him to this stupid body. He nudged a body with his foot, and stepped back, disgusted as he noticed the red lines drawn beneath the bodies. He was standing in the centre of an enormously large pentagram, drawn with crimson blood. There were imperfections in the lines, caused by the splatter of the liquid when they had made the symbol._

 _They'd summoned him. Brought him up from hell, from that place of burning fire and smouldering ruins. But why? Why had they gone so far? What had these people wanted?_

" _You know, when I told them to summon you, I didn't think they'd do it like this." The endoskeleton snapped his head towards the direction the voice was coming from. The shadows were still present, just drifting aimlessly in the air._

" _Who are you?" He asked, an edge of malice in his tone. But the unseen speaker just chuckled, not at all fazed by the endoskeleton's threatening inquiry. Faint footsteps approached him from the dreary shadows, barely audible but with an air of importance to whoever they belonged to. However, whoever had been talking stopped at the very edge of the darkness, masking themselves from the endoskeleton's view._

" _Who am I? Oh, just a desperate man in need of help. I figured I could knock out two birds with one stone; shoot down these idiots,_ and _get what I want: your help." The voice said cheerfully as the endoskeleton started to step forward, into the shadows as his eyes became bright beacons of shining light. His headlights swept through the abyss of darkness as the voice seemed to start coming from every direction within the thick layers of black mist._

" _What is it that you wish to demand of me? Surely you know that I do not merely accept every request; I am a demon king. I have little time for affairs in mortal worlds." The endoskeleton growled, swiping at where the voice had last been, only for the taunting echoes of laughter to move farther away._

" _I am certain that this will interest you, Lord Abaddon. Do not doubt my words; I know about your friendship with the mortal man." Abaddon froze, as the voice spoke to him. How could he know about that? It was a secret he'd kept only to himself, and Henry had taken it to the grave. Unless…_

" _Well? What about him?" The demon king inquired curiously, the voice chuckling to himself as it moved behind him._

" _He had a daughter, Charlotte. She's been doing something terrible; and I doubt that anyone mortal can stop her. She has an entire team behind her back now. It's only a matter of time before power goes to her head, and she tries to destroy the entire city." The voice told him, suddenly sounding extremely urgent. "So when I learnt that the military were conducting experiments on artificial intelligence, I suggested summoning you instead of asking for help. You are the_ only _one who could stop her, Lord Abaddon."_

" _Now you're speaking in gibberish." The demon king sighed, shaking his head. "For the brief time I knew her, Charlie was an innocent child. I find it very hard to believe what you are saying."_

" _Then go. See for yourself." The voice asked, almost pleaded. Abaddon frowned, his servos whirring as he whipped his head around. Joints squeaked and his feet clanked as he walked back towards the pentagon, out of the darkness. He'd had enough of this foolish game of hide-and-seek._

" _I will send a person." He announced to the person who he knew now watched him from the darkness. He willed his eyes to stop shining their light, and at once the luminescent glow dimmed. "A person who already has reason to hate her; I will gift him with abilities like my own, and tell him to observe her for me. If he fails his job and she lashes out to him…then I will believe you, mortal. But until then, Charlie Stillwater is mine to judge, not yours."_

" _Very well, Lord Abaddon. I look forward to the day we meet again." The voice said, and Abaddon could hear the same faint footsteps fading away into the distance. The darkness began to clear, as the demon king shook his head, scraping at a line of the pentagon with his metal foot._

" _I certainly do not."_

 **xXx**

Sam Brown was silent as he trudged into the facility, his head held low. In his hands he held the black Bonnie head, shadows still radiating from the fabric prop. The white dots of light in the eyeholes glowed fiercely, even though Sam wasn't channelling his power into the head. Ever since the incident at Freddy's with Charlie Stillwater and The Scourge, the head had taken on a life of its own, becoming its own separate shell of shadows and eternal darkness. But Sam was here because of an agreement, not because he _wanted_ to meet at an abandoned military research facility. But Abaddon was a demon king, one of the four beings as powerful as Satan himself. And you didn't want to mess with anyone possessing that level of power.

The fuses in the building were all fried, thanks to the explosion that Abaddon had accidentally created when the idiotic scientists had decided summoning a demon king was a risk that was worth it for the reward of a functional battle machine. Even Sam would have realised that the action was suicidal, but apparently some people were just blind to logic, despite their excelling in everything else.

However, Abaddon was always easy to find in here; all Sam had to do was follow the trail of shadowy mist which led to the massive room housing the pentagon. And standing in the centre of the satanic symbol was the demon king himself, an aura of dark shadows swirling around him his mechanical eyes glowed a fierce bright red. His razor sharp teeth glinted evilly in the scarce amount of light provided by his eyes, and his movements were loud but intimidating, deafening clanks echoing throughout the room as he walked towards Sam with a natural air of authority.

"Sam. So nice to see you again." The demon said roughly, but without any malicious intent. "How did it all go?"

"I met Charlie." Sam replied, as he set the Bonnie head down. His eyes drifted towards the skylight, which for once was surprisingly clear. "It's true. She's playing the vigilante. I wouldn't say that what she's doing is bad, though."

"You are aware that she's killed scores of people, right?" Abaddon asked him, and Sam gave the demon king a slight shrug as he scratched his head.

"I know that Charlie kills people. But she stopped me from killing a lot more than I would have. She's a good person, Lord Abaddon."

"Cut it out with the Lord crap, Sam. And don't be so damn formal." Abaddon told him with a hint of amusement as Sam gave him a small sigh. Abaddon might have been a demon lord, but he was a good person; he could see that clearly. "However, it seems that I've been told the truth about her. If she is truly Springtrap, then it's her who's ripping this city apart. It won't be long before someone goes too far in an attempt to kill her; then fires will burn, buildings will be ash, roads will be split, and life will be ended. I don't intend to let any of that happen."

Sam didn't reply as the demon king trudged away, his machinery working away on the inside of his heavily armoured endoskeleton. He was already aware of what was to come; Abaddon would use his powers to strip this facility of its usable resources. Then he would begin to build his army, until he was satisfied that Charlie would be killed by the onslaught. He would barely pay attention to collateral damage, only focusing on his main goal. And that was probably a bad decision to make, letting an all-powerful demon run amok to wreak havoc and destruction upon the city. But there was no point in fighting against Abaddon; he could only hope that Charlie got out of this alive.

 **xXx**

Charlie didn't bother looking up as Arty walked down the stairs, his ear pressed to his phone. She was modifying the gauntlet, trying to see if she could amplify its strength. But there was a lot that she still didn't understand about remnant, so she tried her best to not look too disappointed whenever her experiments failed. She picked up a pair of wire strippers as Arty made a frantic motion with his hands.

"Uh huh. Yeah. Okay, Clay." He made a scribbling sign with his hand, as Charlie rolled her eyes and pulled a pen out of the front pocket of her overalls, tossing it over to him. He fumbled with it for a moment, shooting her a quick glare before returning his attention back to the phone. "Right, sure. That's fine. Uh huh. Cool." He wrote something down on his hand, nodding fervently. "Okay. See you." He hung up, sighing. "Clay again; asking about Jessica. Said that Carlton needed to see her."

"She's at her house." Charlie pointed out as she stripped the wire she was holding, and intertwined it with another. "I don't see why he couldn't just go there."

"I asked him that; said it was too insecure. Needed a more discreet location." Arty explained. Charlie just snickered as she closed the hatch on the back of the gauntlet.

"That just makes it sound dodgy as hell." She remarked, and he gave her a nod.

"Exactly what I was thinking. Reckon we should tag along?" He asked, and she gave him a small shrug, though the grin on her face said enough about her decision.

"Why the hell not?"

 **xXx**

Jessica sat across from Carlton in silence, her expression stony cold. The rest of the diner was filled with noise, enthusiastic people telling each other about whatever made a good conversation starter, but in their booth there was only silence; it had been so for the past five minutes. She fingered the strands of her ponytail as she tried to figure out a way to talk to him. Usually it was simpler; just saying hello, or waiting for someone else to start the conversation. But in this instance, Carlton was just as silent as she was. It really wasn't helping either of them in this situation, but for some reason, she welcomed the lack of noise coming from their booth. Maybe it was all those years, of no contact with anyone else apart from the weekly trip to the grocery store, or the days where she'd been a waiter, occasionally exchanging a few words, but mostly staying mute to customers. It was a gift of hers, after all. Silence didn't come easily these days.

"Are you going to tell me why you asked me to come here?" She finally asked after a while, and Carlton bit his lip.

"I'm fairly sure you already know why you're here, Jessica." He said, his gaze not breaking in the slightest. "I came to your house, and I asked you about Charlie. You lied. You told me that she wasn't Springtrap, but I know the truth now. I saw her. We talked about it. But I haven't talked about it with _you_." Jessica silently looked out the window, watching a car pull into the lot. She wasn't in the mood to discuss with Carlton why she had lied to him.

"Carlton, I couldn't have told you, even if I wanted too. You know that I never would have given Charlie away. She already thought that you suspected her. She told me to be weary around you." She admitted. A group of teens; two girls, two boys, exited the car that had just pulled in, and started walking towards the diner.

"Jessica; how long were you doing this?" Carlton asked and Jessica frowned, unsure of how to answer his question.

"You mean joining up with Charlie? A little after she became Springtrap." She told him, but he shook his head. "Well? What do you mean then? If you're talking about-"

"I'm talking about being The Mangle." He said, and Jessica fell silent. "Jessica, let's face the facts; before you went vigilante and joined The Scourge, you were already on your own mission. Whether I like it or not, you were a serial killer before you even started thinking about the greater good. And don't pretend that you don't know what I'm talking about; reports of The Mangle? They started appearing a little after the breakup." She cringed silently, as she averted her eyes away from the window, and looked him in the eye.

"Why don't you just tell me what you want to say?" Jessica asked him coldly, and Carlton glanced around uncomfortably.

"Freakshow, The Children of the Masks…that wasn't about revenge. You could have pulled it all off years ago. Instead, you did it to get back at me. Because you knew that it would break me. Because you knew that I would never catch you." She remained silent throughout his entire speech, waiting for the inevitable. "Every single one of those deaths; you left us a clue to find you, a hint that we never saw until the image of you and Charlie in the street flood found its way onto my father's desk. You took out their frontal lobes, and left them next to the bodies. And you even called yourself The Mangle, after that goddamn animatronic. I should have seen the signs. But I didn't; I was a fool, and idiot. But now I see it all differently. Because you did it all to get back at me. And to be honest, I'm not sure what to think about that."

Jessica laughed, as she saw the teens open the door, standing in line impatiently. Suddenly she locked eyes with one of them; a blonde boy who froze when he saw her. He nudged one of the girls, who nodded to him.

"What do you want me to say, Carlton?" She asked angrily. "That I felt hurt? Angry? Cheated? Sad? Well, fine. Because I felt _every one_ of those things. I tried my damn best to fit into this world. Do you know how difficult that is, for someone like me? I could only imitate other people; I could barely think for myself. You told me that you didn't care. You said that everything was going to be alright. And I believed you. Like an idiot, I believed you. But then it became too much for you too." She could feel tears welling up in her eyes as she spoke, silent streams of water running down her cheeks. "You lied to me. You filled me with false hope, and then you abandoned me. So don't accuse _me_ of lying, when _you_ were the one who told the ones that hurt the most." She spat at him spitefully, wiping her eyes. Carlton looked away, averting his eyes.

"So that's it." He murmured. "That's how you felt about it. I-I don't know what to say, Jess."

"Really? Because you always used to, back in the day." Jessica muttered, pulling at her hair. "Did you enjoy it, Carlton? Breaking me? Making me cry? Did you?" He gave her a puzzled look, then shook his head. Behind him, the group of teens were beginning to approach them.

"God, Jess. No. God, no. Why would you think that?" He asked, but before she could answer, the blonde boy was rushing forward, switchblade in hand. Thinking fast, Jessica threw her glass at him, rising from her seat as the boy shielded his eyes from the resulting shards. She twisted his arm, disarming him before kicking the girl in the stomach. She reeled, stumbling back into the other two teens. Other people in the diner were panicking now from the sudden fight, and she rolled her eyes as she held the knife to the boy's throat.

"Okay. Anyone want to explain why you tried to send me to stabby-town? Or should I slit his throat?" There was no response as the teens halted, eyes glaring with hatred. The boy made a gargled croak as Jessica pressed the blade harder against his skin. A drop of blood began to drip down from the small cut. "I'm going to give you three seconds before I kill pretty boy right here. 3, 2, 1…"

"Fine!" The other girl yelled angrily in defeat, motioning for the others to back down. "Let him go, dammit." Jessica obliged, shoving him away as she twirled the blade absentmindedly while her eyes shifted to each of them. "We were blackmailed. If we don't take you to the old military research facility just outside of town, we…we die." She muttered, looking down at the ground.

"Who was it that said that?" Jessica asked, and the girl looked away.

"He said that his name was Abaddon. We never saw his face, but he had a really deep voice. I remember feeling really…intimidated." She muttered quietly. Jessica said nothing as she looked over to the booth where she knew Charlie and Arty were sitting, listening in on every word. Abaddon didn't want Jessica; he wanted Charlie, and to get her he'd need to lure her in. So he'd gone for Jessica, her closest friend, probably not knowing that she was just as powerful as his actual target.

"Alright. I'm going to give you an address, and you're going to go there. A friend of mine will hide you until Abaddon's dealt with; and someone else will deal with the witnesses." She told the girl, who gave her a stiff nod. She scribbled Charlie's address on her napkin, and sent them off. At that moment Charlie and Arty stood up, and walked over to Jessica.

"…so. Any ideas?" She asked, and Jessica frowned.

"Abaddon must want to get you really badly. If he's blackmailing teens to get to me, then he'll be sending even worse after you. You're going to have to watch your back now, even more than you were before. She said, and Charlie grimaced.

"She said that she was going to take you to the research facility. If I went there, do you reckon I'd meet him?"

"It's possible." Jessica replied, watching as the teens piled back into their car, and took off down the road. "They're off. You two should probably be home to greet them."

"Uh huh. We'll be there." Arty grinned, and poked Charlie's shoulder. "Come on. Can't let them meet William." Without another word, the two raced out of the diner, leaving only Jessica and Carlton in the building.

"I'll call William." She said, turning to him. "He can erase memories, with a little time. And replace them, with a little more."

"I don't like this." Carlton grumbled. "This Abaddon person is going all out on you guys. It's not safe in Hurricane anymore."

"It never was." Jessica shot back, as she looked around the deserted restaurant. "But this is bad. We need to take action, or this city falls apart."

"So what do we do?" He asked, and she growled, gazing out the window.

"We find Abaddon. And then we take him down."

 **xXx**

Sam watched uncomfortably as a shadowy figure walked out of the darkness, strolling over to Abaddon. The humanoid figure whispered something to the armoured endoskeleton, who just nodded and flicked his hand. Instantly it dissipated into a dark mist, re-joining the rest of the black clouds.

"It went as planned. Jessica Evans is on high alert, and Charlie is going to be joining us here as soon as the teenagers are safe." The demon lord told Sam, glowering as his shadows surrounded him hungrily. "Then if I don't kill her here, we switch to Plan B."

"You know that I want no part in that." Sam frowned. "It's an insane idea; if she doesn't kill you, then the citizens will. You can't be serious about executing it."

"I'm ready to do whatever is necessary to stop her." Abaddon growled back as he paced back and forth, his heavy footsteps clanking loudly against the floor. Servos whirred, gears ticked and his processors whined like dying animals, but the ridiculous sounds hardly damaged the authority that the demon carried with him. "I owe that much to her father."

"You owe him the death of his daughter, and the destruction of this entire city?" Sam spat, then drew back, afraid of Abaddon's reaction. But if the demon king was angered at his response, he didn't show it. He simply shrugged, staring at the skylight in the ceiling, and the miniscule amount of light that had managed to fight its way through the darkness.

"I'm ready to do whatever is necessary to stop her." He repeated calmly. His eyes flashed red for a second, before reverting to their usual pure white. "Cities can be rebuilt, my friend. It only takes patience."

"Maybe so." Sam admitted, though a scowl was on his face. "But the dead can't be brought back. The collateral damage that this operation could cause-"

"I'm ready to do whatever is necessary to stop her." His head snapped towards Sam as he repeated the sentence for the second time, and began to advance towards him. His pointed teeth flashed in the darkness as he gnashed them viciously. "I have nothing else to add." The two stared at each other in silence, Abaddon still looming over him intimidatingly, Sam eyeing the endoskeleton's razor sharp claws.

"Fine." Sam said grudgingly, as Abaddon stepped back, seemingly satisfied by his answer. "But don't expect to see me fighting on your side, when you wreak havoc on the streets."

"Go, then. I have no further use for you." Sam glowered at the demon king, before swiftly heading out of the building, his shoes making a soft _click-clack_ against the cracked floor. Behind him Abaddon sucked the circling shadows back into his body, and his eyes began to glow brighter.

"Don't worry, Henry." He smiled to himself as power coursed through his body. "I'll keep my promise."

 **xXx**

Charlie was waiting for the teens when they pulled up at her house. She leaned against the door, pulling her jacket around her as the strong wind buffeted the trees. It was almost like she was being pushed by an actual person; come to think of it, the wind was likely even stronger. As the four boys and girl climbed out of the car, she opened the door, and motioned inside.

"Get in," was all she said, as the teens obediently filed into the house. She closed the door behind her, sighing happily as the wind was reduced to a low droning sound. "You guys stay in here; don't bother trying to get into the basement, it's locked. When I come back, you can leave, but right now Abaddon is probably focused on finding you, so for now, lay low. Don't use your phones. Don't use _any_ tech. It would be like sending up a beacon. I'll be back, and by then you should be fine." They nodded as she smirked, heading upstairs to meet Michael in her room.

"Abaddon will probably come for them. I need you to keep them safe." Charlie said to him, the golden bear giving her a nod. "Alright, thanks. Me, Jessica and Arty are going to head over to the research facility. We're hoping to shut down Abaddon before he starts blowing up buildings just so he can kill me."

"It's probably not safe for you to go there." Michael told her plainly. "You should stay here. Let him come to us."

"And let him get away with more of this crap? No thanks." Charlie shook her head, picking up Theodore from his chair. "We bring the fight to him, and if he isn't dead by the end of the day, then he'll at least be badly weakened. Then we're free of this stupid idiot, and we can keep doing what we do."

"It's a suicide mission."

"A necessary one."

"It's reckless."

"We're reckless every time we go out there, Michael. This time won't be any different." She argued, but he put his hands on her shoulders firmly, shaking his head.

"The difference is that this time, it isn't Clay who's going after you. This time, you could die. And I can't let that happen to you." The two stood in silence as Michael drew back, and Charlie looked down.

"Even if I die, it doesn't matter. People are _dying_ , because I'm alive. I can't let that keep on going on. It's either me or Abaddon." She said, a hint of finality in her tone. Michael stared at her concernedly, but sighed.

"Fine. I wish you luck, Charlie." He said, before teleporting away, leaving her alone in the room. She placed Theodore back on his chair, and left the room. She slid the basement key out of her pocket, sticking it into the lock and turning it. William was already downstairs, clad in purple. He acknowledged her with a small nod, motioning towards her armour. Charlie donned it without hesitation, placing the rotten rabbit helm onto her head, ignoring the horrible stench that followed. After all the time she'd spent wearing the suit, she'd quickly gotten used to the horrific smell, even though it only got progressively worse over time.

"The witnesses have been taken care of." William said as she sheathed her twin blades, the springlocks on the edges clinking together loudly. She winced as one of the edges slipped between the gaps of rotten fabric, pricking her finger and drawing blood. "It's about time we go."

"I'll be with you with a second." She replied, giving him the thumbs up as he headed up the stairs. Her voice was muffled by the mask, but was still somewhat intelligible. As the basement door closed with a resounding click, she walked over to her table, slipping the gauntlet over her fingers. She didn't have time to test whether the alteration had worked, but she'd just have to hope so. Glancing at the computer, she bounded up the stairs, suddenly feeling like logging in and looking over the Afton Robotics Archives. It had been too long; but that could wait. Abaddon was a ticking time bomb waiting to explode, and he wouldn't sit around for her as she surveyed blueprints and wrote notes. This was a war now. And it all revolved around her.

 **xXx**

There was a chance that she would die today; there was a chance that all of them would die today. Not just The Scourge, but all of Hurricane. Charlie hadn't met Abaddon yet, and she wasn't looking forward to. In her head, she was already running through all the possible scenarios she could think of as she bounded over rooftops, the springs in her legs springing lightly as the pressure was released to launch her into the air. Maybe they would die. Maybe only she would. Maybe Jessica. Maybe William would finally come to an end. Perhaps they would win. Or maybe they'd come to a resolution. Maybe both would leave unsatisfied. There was no way to tell, against an enemy whom you knew nothing about apart from their name.

The research facility had once looked intimidating, with its bright colour and menacing spotlights which would sweep the area around it like a pair of glowing eyes. But now the building was abandoned, the glass of the spotlights were broken and they shone no more. The once sturdy barbwire fence was now rundown and tangled with weeds, leaving an entrance for any teens looking for a place to hang out. Just like the four from earlier. But Charlie was convinced that Abaddon take care of that. As she jumped over the fence, she could almost feel the aura of fear radiating from the inside of the building. Arty landed next to her, Jessica and William following shortly after.

"Well. This is it." Jessica murmured, looking up at the facility. "We're going to see Abaddon." None of them replied, as the wind almost seemed to grow stronger, buffeting them with unbelievable force. Dust was beginning to rise like clouds, the moon glowing brighter every second that passed. The sky looked clear of clouds, and yet all four of them felt something obscuring the stars. Without another word, they advanced into the building, Charlie in the lead with both blades drawn out. Wires hung from the ceiling in large clumps, but no sparks of life flew from the fuses. The power was definitely off.

As the group made their way down a long hallway, they glanced through random doors on their way. All of them were barren, not a single sign of life. Jessica came across a broken beer bottle, but that was all that could possible indicate people being here. The hallway ended at a large door, covered with an unintelligible string of graffiti. William brought it down with one powerful kick, the frame breaking as plaster splintered. And just like that, they lay their eyes on Abaddon.

The endoskeleton was sitting in the centre of the pentagram, his back to them and his eyes closed. All four of them stepped back as his shadows engulfed him like fire, dark tendrils snaking at the air hungrily. Charlie could hear his mechanisms whirring as he lifted his head, and snapped it around 180 degrees. A grin spread over the demon's face, as his body rose to its inhuman height, spinning around to match the direction of his head. He bared his teeth, as the glowing red orbs that were his eyes painted the darkened room with a sickly dark shade that resembled blood.

"Charlie, dear. It's been far too long since we last met." Though while Abaddon had been speaking to Sam his voice was rough, it now sounded smooth, like his mood had suddenly lifted. "Look at you! You grew up into a pretty girl, didn't you? I remember when you were still a toddler, playing outside all the time. I told your dad to bring you inside because you'd probably get a sunburn, but Henry never listened."

"Who the hell are you?" Charlie growled, and the demon tilted his head, almost mockingly. He replied with a sickening grin, striding out of the pentagram with his flashlights on. His unoiled joints squealed at the strain of his movements, though this hardly affected his pace. The endoskeleton halted when he was right in front of her, and smirked.

"I'll help you to jog your memory." He said, and suddenly dropped to the floor. Charlie edged away, and screamed as his arm twitched unnaturally. Then his leg followed, bending at an awkward angle. His head jolted wildly to the side, and his mouth began to snap open and shut.

"No." She mumbled, clutching at her head as her blades clatter to the floor. "It can't be. It's not possible."

"Oh, it is, dear." Abaddon screeched energetically as he seized on the floor, limbs jolting and twitching erratically. "I was there for all of those years, watching over you. You never liked me, but I was always there for you, watching as you played with your toys and stole those little glances at me whenever Henry wasn't looking. And that question that you would ask yourself when you saw me, I heard it every time. So now let me ask you…" Without warning, the demon king lunged upwards, grabbing Charlie by the throat and slamming her onto the ground. The others quickly moved to help her, but stopped when Abaddon's razor sharp claws extended from his fingers. The message was clear: If they tried anything, Charlie was royally screwed. He lifted off her mask with one hand as his limbs twisted unnaturally, grinning. His clawed hand was held to her throat as he laughed at her terrified expression. It shocked the rest of The Scourge that she was doing nothing to fight against him, but they stayed back, afraid of what might happen.

"Does…" Abaddon's claws glinted evilly as he laughed, and Charlie drew back. "…it…" He pressed the sharp claw to her throat, and her eyes widened. "…hurt?" He slid it across her skin in one quick motion, and she whimpered as blood spilled from the wound. Her eyes bulged, and her breathing quickened as Jessica suddenly rushed forwards, claws out.

"Charlie!" She yelled angrily as she slashed at him. Abaddon apparently anticipated this, because before she knew it, the shadows had swallowed him and Charlie, teleporting them to the end of the room. He gave her a mocking smile, poising his claw over her neck.

"One more slice, and your friend dies." He tilted her head back, and laughed as she cried silent tears, dripping onto the ground. "It's all over now, it's all over now," He sang, his hand edging closer and closer to her skin, "it's all over now…Henry especially liked that phrase. I understand why; it meant finality. All the bad things were gone. Everything was over. And when he died, it should have been. But you…" He poked her shoulder, and she cringed. "…you shouldn't have come back. You shouldn't have taken up that helm. I can see it; a future of havoc and this city burning in endless fire. I know that it happens; and I know that it's linked to you."

"Then I'll stop!" Charlie screamed at him, eyes filled with tears. "I'll just stop! You don't have to kill me!" Abaddon didn't seem swayed in the slightest as he shook his head sternly.

"The events have already been set in motion. If I kill you, it all stops. And-" Before he could say anything else, William was wrenching him off of her, tossing the demon king into a wall.

"Teleportation. Neat trick, isn't it?" The purple man said smugly. "Guess what; I know it too." Abaddon roared in anger, lunging at him as his tendrils whipped around him. However, Jessica was there in an instant, her extendable armour plates creating a crisscrossed mesh of metal cables and hard plastic. Then Arty had fired his strings at him, the blades embedding themselves into his endoskeleton. Suddenly the demon felt himself being thrown across the room as Arty swept his arm to the left, slamming him into the wall. Meanwhile Charlie scrambled backwards, eyes still wide as she saw Abaddon rampaging about.

He was the endoskeleton from her childhood. The one from the garage. The one who would twitch and jerk around, with silver eyes that blazed like fire. The one who she had looked at constantly, always thinking that same question, never getting an answer.

 _Does it hurt?_

And it did. As she felt her neck, she cried out at the stinging pain. Abaddon glanced towards her, stopping for just enough time to allow Jessica to barrel into him. The demon yelled something incomprehensible, before slamming her mask into his knee and sending her careering onto the floor. Arty attempted to help her up, but Abaddon's shadows surrounded him and tore at his wings, reducing them to shreds. William was probably faring the worst; he was a ghost, but without a vessel there was no way he could help in the fight. And his purple rags were now hanging in tatters, his sack head rented down one side. He was trying his best, but without arms, there wasn't much he could do apart from throwing himself as the demon lord, who responded every time by slashing off another part of his body.

Charlie eyed her blades which were still lying by the door, and began to crawl towards them. Abaddon hadn't noticed her moving yet; he was still too occupied by William endeavouring to knock him off his feet. Her hands clasped around one of the springlock loaded swords, as she pointed it towards the demon, arms trembling. But she didn't want to shoot William by accident; that would help neither of them, and Abaddon would kill her shortly after. Squeezing her eyes shut, she pulled the trigger.

The springlock his its mark, slamming Abaddon backwards as it was lodged into his forehead. The demon growled angrily as he clawed at the sharp projectile. He ran towards her, but Charlie kept on pulling the trigger, and he was hit by every single springlock that came for him. His legs, arms, chest and head were all heavily damaged by the fighting, so when the projectiles hit him, he didn't stand a chance. Already there were five or six of the makeshift bullets lodged into him in different places. He didn't have any time to pull them out; she kept on firing relentlessly, ignoring the steadily growing stream of blood coming from her throat.

Then the trigger clicked, and her heart stopped. It was only for a beat, but it was enough. Abaddon rose, snarling as he raised his hand, shadows swirling around it violently.

"Now you've done it. It's time to end this." He growled, and the darkness burst forth from his palm like a stream of fire, ready to skewer Charlie in a million different places. She screamed, jolting backwards and shielding her face from the deadly tendrils. But the blow never came. As she pulled her hands away, she screamed when she saw what had happened.

Arty was in front of her, bent forward unnaturally. His mask was cracked in places, but she couldn't make out his face. The demon king's shadows as impaled his body, the dark energy still jumping wildly, almost like flames. He'd jumped in front of her, sacrificed his life. And Charlie could see that he was already dead. There were no last words, no fleeting glances, or angry screams of anguish as his body fell to the ground, filling the silence. Abaddon seemed equally shocked; he was completely still, his expression unreadable as he fell to his side, and the shadows swallowed him up. Just like that, he was gone.

But Charlie didn't care. She crawled forward, lying next to Arty's body as she began to faint from the shock and blood loss.

"Charlie! He's gone! Charlie!" Jessica called her name, but she didn't respond. She stared at Arty's lifeless body, and then she screamed.

"I'm going to kill you!" She yelled at the room, her eyes filled with tears. "I'M GOING TO FUCKING KILL YOU!"

 **xXx**

Abaddon was breaking apart. He'd known that it would be risky to shadow walk in his state, but he needed to get away to recover. Like a fool, he'd allowed the darkness to swallow him up, but this time the mist didn't let him back out. Shadow powers were dangerous; a person who didn't know how to use them could rip themselves apart in seconds. Abaddon was supposed to be better than that; he was better than humans. He was a demon king. But it had always been dangerous to warp, and his instability in structure didn't help.

The real problem? He had no clue how to escape. Normally he'd just think of the place he wanted to go to, and if there were shadows, then he's be there in an instant. But shadow walking was not a simple skill. When you entered the Shadow Plane, all was dark. You weren't exactly there; you were more or less everywhere. Every second, you whizzed through every shadows present in the world, shifting positions trillions of times a second. It was exhausting, stopping at exactly the right time, but it was something you got used to. It just took time.

He would have died in there if it hadn't been for Sam pulling him out. Abaddon stumbled out of the darkness, placing his hand against a nearby tree as his energy was drained. Sam stood in front of him, looking unimpressed.

"I had to go to the forest to pull you out." He explained matter-of-factly. "There was too large a chance of you shattering into pieces, without a sufficient amount of shadows. The demon didn't reply as he looked around, legs still shaky. "I take it that it didn't go as plan." Sam said grimly.

"Indeed. Abaddon muttered, sighing. "Well, you know what to do." He waited for the man to reply, but only received a snicker.

"I'm sorry; what should I do?" He asked, and the demon king frowned. "You gave me these powers, and you said I owed you a debt. And now I've saved your life; my debt is repaid. You can commence Plan B by yourself." Abaddon was silent, his mechanisms completely freezing up.

"Fine. Leave. I have no further use for you, anyway."

"Good. I'll take no part in this insane plan." Sam started trudging away, but suddenly halted. "I was about to wish you good luck." He said slowly, as if he couldn't believe himself. "But I don't think anyone wants Plan b to happen; no one but you." The man disappeared into the shadows, and Abaddon waited. And waited. Until the sun rose and the moon passed, until he was back to his full strength. But still he waited. Because he was coming.

"I'm glad you stayed." He spun around, and managed a grim smile when he saw his partner walking towards him, the one who had raised him from hell.

"Is everything ready?" He asked, and Michael Afton grinned.

"Oh, yes. Everything is ready."


	15. The Devil Walks Among Us

**YEE LAST CHAPTER WHOOOOOO!**

 **Well, there's still the epilogue, but that's for all you guys who want a sneak peek at what the sequel is gonna be about.**

 **I say sequel to Stage 01** _ **and**_ **Strangers But in Dreams, because Stage 02: Shadows of the Deepscape isn't gonna be coming round for a while. It's gonna be a long wait, but it'll be worthwhile. I've improved my writing skills a crap ton over the past year, so look forward to more updates on Let Me Breathe, aka part two of this series. Seriously, I'm** _ **super**_ **happy right now. My first fully completed story is on this** _ **freaking site this is so amazing!**_

 **But I won't say goodbye till the epilogue is up, because even if this story is over, there's still the rest of the sequels, spinoffs and crossovers to look forward to, especially the Banishers crossover coming maybe next year, or the year after.**

 **Thank you to all you guys who supported me through this whole thing, and stuck with me till the very end. Especially Ilee2004, who was a super supportive friend throughout my writers block and all that crap, and Smilesforeverhappy, who's that one guy who seems to review on almost every chapter. But most of all thanks you to Scott Cawthon, for making FNaF in the first place.**

 **Shit, now I'm rambling.**

 **Also, 11000 words. Holy shit this chapter is long.**

 **Now without further ado, please enjoy the final chapter of Stage 01, minus the epilogue.**

Chapter 15

The Devil Walks among Us

Plan B. The last resort. The thing that could very well be the mean the end of not only Charlie and The Scourge, but also Hurricane in its entirety. An entire city, wiped out overnight. A risky, reckless operation that could very well lead to hundreds of deaths. But Abaddon didn't feel guilty in the slightest as he stood in the rain, listening to the water droplets pattering against the leaves of the trees. His black smoky tendrils were hovering dormant over his head, occasionally twitching whenever a small sound was made. To those the demon king just chuckled, the tiny mechanisms in his skull whirring.

Michael hadn't arrived yet, but Abaddon was certain that he was doing what needed to be done. They both knew what they needed to do. Michael had done his part; now Abaddon would do his. And he would make no mistakes; Charlie Stillwater needed to be dealt with, before the situation spiralled even further out of control. He'd seen what she could do first hand, which had left him fairly worried, considering that her team had defeated him, even with her almost fainting out of her stupid and plain childhood fear. But that was what Plan B was for; against one person The Scourge stood a chance. Against an army…they'd be shredded to pieces.

The squishing of mud alerted Abaddon to Michael's presence as the man approached him, head down. It was difficult for the two of them to meet; the increasing crime rate in Hurricane was keeping the police on edge. The death of Arty Bishop of The Scourge hadn't helped them either, considering that Chief Burke's son was close with Charlie, so he likely already knew about Abaddon. It wasn't ideal, but it was the way things were working out.

"It's all done." Michael said as Abaddon turned to face him, eyes burning bloody red. "All set. When you want it to begin, you've just gotta call me. It doesn't matter if they trace it, everything's gonna be over shortly after." The demon king nodded, apparently satisfied by the news.

"Good. Thank you for doing this." He said, as Michael gave him a shrug. "No, really. I mean, I get that we have the same goals and all, but the fact that you even _summoned_ me to deal with it…well, thanks."

"No problem. Anything else you might need?" Michael asked, but Abaddon shook his head. "Alright. See you later." The demon king nodded at his partner, sighing. If everything went as planned tonight, then he could return home soon, sleep at ease, knowing that he'd done the right thing. If everything went wrong…well, then the world would fall. Michael's footsteps soon faded into the distance, leaving Abaddon in silence as the rain poured down.

 **xXx**

She buried Arty in secret. The people of Hurricane had known him as The Puppet, but Charlie had known him as a friend, who she had wronged in the pass. A friend to whom she owed a debt which couldn't be repaid. She'd insisted that she be left alone, but in reality she felt the longing for company more than ever. She dug his grave on her own, digging the shovel into the earth and pulling out another small pile of dirt every time. She could have used more efficient tools, maybe even the gauntlet, but she couldn't bear the thought of just spending a couple of minutes on her friend's grave. A friend who'd given his life for hers.

It had taken her hours upon hours. By the end of it every muscle ached, her hands were covered in blisters and bags as dark as Abaddon's shadows hung from under her eyes. But she let herself have the luxury of believing she'd done her best. She lowered Arty's coffin into the pit, thrown in his armour and gear, then buried him. In her physical state, it took Charlie another three hours to put all the dirt back into the ground. Twelve hours. That was how long it took to finish all of it. By then it was already midday, but Charlie didn't leave the patch of newly laid dirt.

She sat down for the first time since she started working, taking in deep breaths as she leaned back against a tree. Her clothes were drenched in her sweat, sticking to her body uncomfortably as her chest heaved and her eyes closed. She tried to fight back the tears, but there was no point; they had all been shed while she'd dug his grave, leaving no more for after. She wondered to herself whether she should leave a gravestone; his name propped up so that people knew he was there, who he was. But the idea was quickly thrown away as she looked back at the uneven dirt. It would only get destroyed by people, something that she'd never allow to happen. This grave would never be desecrated, it was sacred.

"Charlie! Charlie! You've been here for hours!" She barely reacted as Jessica walked into the clearing, a red bandana tied over the scar on her forehead. "Come on, it's time for us to go." Charlie didn't reply; she just kept staring at the dirt, wondering how Arty had felt while he'd been dying. Had he been sad? Shocked? Angry? At who? Her? Abaddon? Himself?

"What's the damn point?" She wondered out loud, her eyes flickering open. "Arty _died_ to save my life. If it weren't for me, he'd still be alive. Heck, if it weren't for me, none of those people in that restaurant would have died! I'm the fucking problem! I should just turn myself over to Abaddon. It'd stop all of this from happening."

"You've got to be kidding me!" Jessica exclaimed, sighing and sitting down next to her cross-legged. "If we lose to Abaddon, we're letting him push us around, letting him toy with us, make us do what he wants us to do. Make us his damn _slaves_. Is that what you want, Charlie?! Is that what you want?!"

"You know that's not what I fucking want!" Charlie screamed at her, barely controlling herself. Her body was shaking, her breathing quickening. "It's just…well, think about it. _Why_ did I start this whole crusade in the first place? It was to help William right his wrongs. But it evolved into something more. It evolved into _helping_ people! And by letting Abaddon continue this rampage, this destruction, am I helping people? Fuck no!" She jerked back, tracing her right index finger, now caked with dirt, over the bumpy line where Abaddon's claw had slit her throat. Only remnant had saved her life, but even that had its limits. It wouldn't be long before something else happened, something which couldn't be healed. William had considered resurrecting Arty, but Charlie had told him not to. He deserved his rest, after all the terrible things that had happened to him in life. It was time to let go of it all for him.

As she looked down, she realised that she had been rubbing her hands against the ground the entire time; her fingers had dug out narrow grooves in the ground. She hastily pulled them out, cursing as she saw that they were bleeding. She glanced at Jessica, who hadn't noticed yet; she was just looking at her, concerned.

"If you're going to blame yourself because Arty's dead, don't. Blame Abaddon. Blame the idiots who summoned him. Heck, you can even blame the kids who told us to go there for being such dumbasses and hanging around there in the first place, but don't blame yourself!" She growled, as Charlie let out a resigned sigh. Behind her, the bark of the tree had broken, the splinters of wood now falling to the ground.

"…do you really believe that?" She asked, but Jessica just snorted in response. It was clear that there would be no answer for that question. The implication was obvious; they had to kill Abaddon. For certain. Before more people died.

"Are you done feeling sorry for yourself?" Jessica inquired sarcastically. "Because I have a meet with Carlton, and I'd rather not be late. You know how damn punctual he is." Charlie snickered, waving her off.

"God…you can go. I'll be off in just a minute." Jessica gave her a smirk, nodding as she rose to her full height and headed back to the tree line. Charlie looked at her hand again, the skin chafed and raw, drops of dry blood splattered against her finger nails. Without another word she stood up, hand against the tree to support her body. She took one last look at Arty's grave, before she was off again, hand dragging against rough tree bark, walking on her increasingly unsteady legs.

 **xXx**

" **Find. Kill. Find. Kill."** The endoskeleton suddenly sputtered to life, eyes illuminating the darkness as it rose its head. It wasn't as advanced as Abaddon's body, but it shared a few common traits; the glowing eyes, sharp teeth and rectangular head. Michael watched the machine, bored as it shuffled forward a little, then walked back repeatedly. It had now repeated this process at least five times since it had booted up. The others were slowly beginning to stir, joints creaking, though their eyes stayed shut. They had not been given commands yet; they only knew that their purpose was to find and kill. But kill what, they did not know.

" **Find. Kill. Find. Kill."** A second one snapped its eyes open, focusing on Michael sitting behind the panel of bulletproof glass, just in case the endoskeletons went rogue. Its cameras adjusted to the light, lenses changing around as the blurriness of the image decreased. It began to shuffle backwards and forwards, like the first one. Before long all of the metal skeletons were online, the only hearable sound being the constant shuffling of hundreds, maybe thousands of pairs of metal feet as they scraped against the floor, the occasional squeak being the only variation in sound.

Michael considered giving them a command; just a simple one. But Abaddon wouldn't be happy if he attempted to tell his troops to kill Charlie, only to be forced to wait for them to finish scrubbing the floor. That would be embarrassing. However, the boredom was beginning to affect him more than usual; he'd been waiting here for hours. He'd started humming a tune just a few minutes ago; he was making it up as he went along, trying his best to keep himself entertained. But Abaddon's call hadn't come, so he was stuck here with these mindless idiots.

Suddenly his phone began to vibrate. The man pulled it out of his pocket eagerly, answering promptly.

"Michael." Abaddon's voice said, static crackling. "You know what you need to do." With that, the endoskeleton hung up, leaving Michael in the silence once again. A robotic foot squeaked against the floor, causing him to smile.

"Attention!" He yelled, as all the endoskeletons turned to face him, waiting patiently for their command. "Commence Operation Genesis." Michael opened a door next to the glass, watching with a grin on his face as the flood of robots flooded through, stampeding like hungry animals as they scuttled out into the open air, some on their two legs, while others traversed on all four limbs. Michael sighed, ringing Abaddon's number. "The deed's been done. Don't mess it up. This is our _only_ chance to stop her. After this, we're screwed." He hung up before the demon lord could say a word, looking up at the skylight. "Well then, Charlie. Let's see how you fare against _this_."

 **xXx**

Charlie hadn't been aware that Hurricane had an emergency alarm; she'd assumed that it had been far too remote for anyone to have bothered. But there it was, ringing through the air with ear splitting volume.

"ATTENTION CITIZENS! WE HAVE BEEN NOTIFIED OF A POSSIBLE INVASION! PLEASE STAY CALM, AND STAY INDOORS! DO NOT ENGAGE WITH THE INVADERS; THEY HAVE BEEN REPORTED TO BE EXTREMELY HOSTILE, AND WE HAVE ALREADY SUFFERED SEVERAL CASUALTIES! I REPEAT; DO NOT ENGAGE WITH THE INVADERS! STAY SAFE, AND KEEP INDOORS!" The alarm fell silent, as the members of The Scourge and the Phantom Scourge grimaced. The alarm had been going off every 30 minutes without fail, always relaying exactly the same message. There was no news of who these invaders were, but Charlie had a fairly good idea of who was responsible.

"Abaddon's stepping it up." Jessica remarked, switching on the TV in the basement. "Can you believe it? I mean, a full scale invasion?" There was no news on; just a screen filled with text reiterating the alarm's message.

"Stay indoors? No shit." Charlie murmured to herself. "I can't believe he's done this. I mean, blackmailing teens is one thing. Attacking people on the streets? That's up at least ten levels."

"And it's _way_ over the top. I wouldn't be surprised if this entire city gets burned to the ground by tomorrow. It would certainly match Abaddon's levels of insanity. I wouldn't be surprised if he levelled every building, at this rate." Jessica remarked.

"Well, when you think about it, that's a possibility. We don't know everything that he's planning." Charlie pointed out. "In fact, he could be outside right now, about to blow the house into smithereens."

"If that was true," Jessica said, "then we'd all be dead by now. We know that Abaddon isn't one to wait."

"Then we'll stop him before he gets the chance." Charlie stated, a blank expression on her face. Jessica gave her a puzzled look. "If Abaddon's doing all of this to kill me, then me confronting him and his…army, could cause him to call off the attack." Jessica opened her mouth to object, but William spoke before her. The purple man had been standing in his corner of the room in silence, not making the slightest noise. He had changed into another set of rags, this time equipped with his Illusion Discs.

"It's worth a shot." He said, not moving from his position. "If Abaddon is willing to negotiate with us, that's a lot better than risking the lives of thousands of people. We go to him, tell him to call off the attack, and then we fight him while he's alone. We get the Phantom Scourge to back us up, and then we're good to go. All we need is to find him."

"Which is a lot easier said than done." Charlie admitted, sighing and shaking her head. "I mean, for all we know, that army of his looks exactly like him. He might be _any one_ of those stupid things up there; they definitely aren't human, from what the news is telling us. They've gotta be endoskeletons, like him. And he's made of that stupid shadow energy; he'll shift his consciousness from body to body, until there aren't any left. Then he'll just teleport away, like last time."

"But then again, making an army of endoskeletons would take time." Jessica pointed out. "Abaddon may not like it, but if we manage to destroy his army completely, with only him left, he'll have to go against us by himself. He's put too much time and effort into this invasion to just decide to discard all his plans because of his army being killed. He wants you dead badly, Charlie. He'll do _anything_ to have your dead body bleeding all over the streets. We destroy his army, then we destroy _him_."

"Sounds like a plan." Charlie replied, a sly grin forming on her face. "Alright. Jessica, call in Michael. Tell him to get his group prepared. William, I need you to take the kids home. Can you do that?" Both nodded energetically, William's rags falling to the floor as his spirit left them, Jessica running up the stairs to search for her phone. Charlie looked towards the Springtrap suit lying on her work table, frowning. She strode over to the empty armour, picking up the withered green rabbit head, peering into the empty eyes like she had done so many times before. She looked at the darkness, the absence of light in the suit. She looked at the dried blood which stained the once shiny but now faded golden colouring, belonging to the victims of both her and William in their own separate killing sprees. She looked at the greyed plastic teeth, now chipped and scratched, frozen into a permanent smile from the decaying of the head's moulding muzzle. And then she looked at the two thin sharp lines at the back, where two twin springlocks had once lain dormant, but deadly and ready to cut deep into the neck of anyone foolish enough to activate them. The two springlocks which had changed her life, the day she'd made her first kill. The day that she'd heard William's call from inside the head. The day she'd became Springtrap.

Charlie hesitated at first; she wondered about what would happen after this; would she continue with her crusade? Would she end it? Would the others still pick up where she had left off, carrying on the mission that William had set for her all those months ago? But in the end, it didn't matter; she'd played her part in this game of death and violence. And she wasn't about to give in to Abaddon. Not yet.

She gingerly took off her green jacket, laying across the back of her chair, before grabbing the suit's modified torso. She remembered how difficult it had been to find the rest of the suit; scattered in bits and pieces around Freddy's. But one by one the decaying pieces of animatronic costume had been found, under tables, in one of William's several secret rooms, even in the vents. She'd salvaged the, taken them home, worked on them. While with the arms she'd simply made them more flexible, while with the legs she had added springs into the feet which allowed her to jump to remarkable heights, her work on the torso was something she was proud of.

When Charlie had first seen Spring Bonnie's old chest piece, her first thought was _Holy Shit_. Because that was how it had smelt. Apart from the horrible stench, other imperfections included the fact that the front of it was hanging in shambles, the fact that most of William's organs were still inside of it, and the badly bent endoskeleton jammed inside. It had taken time, but she had found solutions to every one of these problems. Before long the suit had been thoroughly cleaned, taking care of both the horrific smell and William's organs. She'd then carefully removed the rusty endoskeleton, disassembling it piece by piece, before taking out the mechanisms one by one. Then she had made the effort of fixing the chest.

Most people would have given up right then and there if they had seen the state of the chest. It was far beyond repair, even with an expert. But Charlie wasn't like most people; where they would have seen a disaster, she had seen an opportunity. Instead of trying to repair the chest and sew it back up, she replaced it entirely. A metal ribcage, serving as a thin but effective layer of armour had been worked into the suit over the course of a few days. But of course, Charlie hadn't even stopped there. The metal bones had been sharpened like knives as well, ready to cut into the flesh of anyone who came too close. There were sensors in her suit, programmed to alert her to any nearby threats. If detected, her ribcage would open up, before the sharpened blades would jab at any hostiles close enough to deal serious damage. The function had saved her life many times, especially when she had only just started her crusade, not knowing a thing about fighting.

Charlie silently slipped on the torso, feeling the click of the ribcage snapping into place, before moving onto the arms. She grabbed a piece of the suit, connected it to two others and a shoulder pad, before sliding her right arm through the oddly shaped cylinder. The segment twisted and adjusted automatically, until they were comfortable. She then picked up the remnant gauntlet with her last hand, letting it slide on top of her right hand. Instantly the tiny sensors went to work, recognising her basic anatomy before the massive gauntlet began to change shape, rods sliding, wires running, bars and plates constricting, until the metal covering fit perfectly over her hand, no longer bulging out unnaturally like it had before. In fact, it could have passed as looking normal if she was wearing gloves. She slipped the Springtrap suit's hand over the gauntlet, letting it click into place, then doing the same with her other arm.

The legs, however, took her a little longer. She had to slip them on, segment by segment, carefully connecting them at the ends each time before moving onto the next. The springs which allowed her to jump so high had to be connected separately from the gnarly, rat eaten paddings which the animatronic had once used in order to not scrape its endoskeleton feet against the floor. The rectangular metal devices which encased her feet also served another purpose other than jumping; sparing her feet from touching the costume's, even while wearing socks. Years of water decay had made the feet rough to touch at the surface, yet uncomfortably squishy once pressed. The cold metal felt much better than the rotten fabric; that much she had known without needing to test her theory, though she had anyway.

Finally, after every last piece of the costume was on, the only remaining part was the head. Charlie picked it up again, this time not looking into the eyes, but at the ears. Both were heavily damaged, either by Michael or by the several years of negligence. She pulled back the longer one a few centimetres back, before releasing it. A soft metallic twang struck the wired mesh of the head, causing it to vibrate rapidly. Had the springlocks still been inside, they would have been triggered almost instantaneously. She quickly turned it around, waiting patiently until the faint ring from the head had faded, before placing it over her head. Instantly the sound of her breathing increased tenfold, the quick and rapid intakes and exhales of air being amplified heavily by the confines of the rotting head. The eyeholes were large enough for her to look through them without any difficulty, the head constricting, but large and light enough so that she didn't get any headaches just by wearing it.

As Charlie breathed in, she gratefully remembered cleaning out the entire suit. If she hadn't, then just the action of breathing would have been a complete and utter nightmare; how would she have been able to fight like that? Sure, her fighting skills had increased as her experience grew, but without the smell to distract her, there had been nothing to hold her back. Charlie glanced at her two blades on her other table. She had polished them till the point where they shone, glistening even in the dimmest of light. Each springlock on the edges of both blades had been sharpened separately, so that they could slice through even metal without many problems. The springlocks used as ammunition were now smaller, but packed a deadlier punch, as the makeshift bullets were thinner, but longer than they had been before. She grabbed one of the blades in her right hand, clutching the handle. She twirled it with her fingers expertly, not the least bit concerned about accidentally slashing herself. All of those times, those faulty accidents, those bugs and glitches which had once been in her system, they were now in the past. Forgotten, smashed under her foot on the long path to who knew where.

She slid both swords into their scabbards as Jessica returned, the bandana now pulled up so the wound which had been the loss of her frontal lobe was now completely visible.

"I've called Michael." Jessica said. "He said that the Phantom Scourge will back us up; he's treating this as importantly as we are."

"I'm not surprised." Charlie replied, studying one of the many cracks in the floor. "I never had any doubts that he would help us from the start. While I haven't formally met any one of the other members of his group, if he thinks that they're trustworthy, then I'll trust them." Both nodded in agreement, before Jessica headed over to her suit, brown ponytail bouncing behind her. William hadn't returned yet, but it was always best to be ready.

As Jessica donned her suit, Charlie could see a small gleam in her eyes. Despite the loss of frontal lobe, Jessica had been showing improvement in her individuality lately. As she pulled on the armoured exoskeleton over her body, layers of metal overlapping with crisscrossed plastic armour plates and cables, she almost seemed excited, anticipating the battle which was about to come. In this suit, she was respected on the streets, even feared in some cases. People didn't know her as Jessica Evans, the girl who couldn't think without another person to guide her; they knew her as The Mangle, the first of the fearsome vigilantes who had claimed Hurricane as their land, their city to protect. The first to stir the talk of monsters and murderers after a decade of silence. The first to draw blood the way William had done once, under the cover of an animatronic whom nobody had suspected.

Jessica planted the painted plastic fox head onto her own, a resounding array of clicks and clacks sounding as the segments of her armour began to find the ends of which they were to join, wires becoming thin blurs as they raced along, cables and tiny pullies whirring. Her plates contracted, shifting into place until there was no more evidence of the girl underneath; the cold, intimidating vigilante on the surface was all that remained.

"William shouldn't be taking this long to deliver a few kids back to their homes." She hissed impatiently, tapping her armoured foot against the ground. The metal clinked every time it struck the cement. Before long, the entire room was ringing, Charlie attempting to cover her ears through the suit. "Do you think he ran into trouble on the way? If you're right about Abaddon's troops, he might be fighting them at this very second."

"Shit." Charlie muttered, whipping around urgently. "You're completely right – God, I'm such an idiot. We've gotta go, _now_." She bounded up the stairs, Jessica's resounding footsteps landing heavily on the steps behind her. She burst out of the door, not bothering to check if anybody was watching her before springing off of the ground, coils whistling as the air travelled through the rips and tears in the fabric. The moon was full, no clouds were obscuring the light tonight, for which Charlie was glad. She allowed herself to turn her head briefly, to see where Jessica was; the heavily armoured girl was right behind her, slinging from the rooftops with her grappling claws.

Charlie almost froze as she came to a realisation: She had no idea where William had gone. She hadn't asked where the kids were staying. Silently cursing herself for the foolish blunder, she closed her eyes, clenching her right hand into a fist. She needed to concentrate in order for this to work; she had to remember that before it was too late.

' _Find William,'_ she told the gauntlet as she allowed herself to go into a momentary freefall. Time seemed to slow down as the power of the remnant in the device went to work, spiritual energy slashing as it surveyed the entire town, before whispering to her, _'the children are already home; the Purple Man is clashing with the metal men.'_ So the teenagers were safe; that was good. But William wasn't likely to hold his own against Abaddon's army. _'Where?'_ she asked it in desperation. Jessica was still swinging along behind her, seemingly not having noticed Charlie's slight freeze in the air. _'Police station',_ the gauntlet replied. Charlie growled, turning mid-air, preparing her springs in order to move further left. The devices complied, shooting her off into the distance, over abandoned cars and silent rooftops. Jessica quickly changed her course, still following closely behind her friend.

As she saw what was up ahead, Charlie began to sweat, now a lot more nervous than before. They had been correct about the endoskeletons; the gauntlet had confirmed that too. But she hadn't expected so many of them. They were swarming the streets, the incessant clicking of their joints and the thuds of their feet sounding like a horde of angry insects. Luckily it seemed that they were ignoring doors, at least for now, but there was a gleam in their glowing red eyes which grew stronger by the second. Hunger, at its greatest form. Not by some mad desire or a will to live, but by pure, loyal obedience to their overarching master, the mysterious Abaddon. The endoskeleton with the blazing silver eyes from the garage, the one which had made Charlie question _'Does it hurt?'_

Charlie shook herself out of her thoughts, grabbing onto the ledge of a building, flipping herself onto the roof. Jessica followed quickly, shooting a three fingered claw which latched onto the ledge, pulling her close before she bounded off the wall, landing next to Charlie in a graceful position. Both girls surveyed the destruction, silent as the endoskeletons continued to scuttle forwards like mindless insects. Even if they had no true intelligence, the machines were still deadly; they were clearly built for battle and not for entertainment, like her father's endoskeletons which had made the bases of the animatronics at Freddy's. The carnage which followed them was mind blowing; street lamps lay strewn across the road, sparks flying from discarded electronics. Flames burned from destroyed vehicles, like massive bonfires. Smoke billowed from the wreckage in massive clouds, obscuring their vision of the sky.

"Abaddon isn't here." Charlie stated after a moment or two of looking at the army. "He'd stand out like a sore thumb." Jessica didn't responds her eyes swept over the flail of mechanical limbs. A few of the endoskeletons which walked on four legs had begun climbing up the wall of the building which they stood on. Their clawed feet latched onto to outside of the building, incessant metal screeches reaching their ears. "They've spotted us." Charlie hissed as a few of the two legged endos looked up, beginning to scramble up the wall after the spider-like ones.

"No shit." Jessica muttered back, readying herself into a fighting stance. "If we've gotta start destroying them, then now's the time to start." Charlie gave her a firm nod, as the first endoskeleton finally reached them, hands clasping around the edge of the roof. As soon as its metal head reared over the roof, Charlie drew both her blades, slicing the endoskeleton's head off in one swift motion. It let out a screech as it fell back, voice box blaring loudly. It flailed its limbs wildly as it descended, accidentally taking another endoskeleton with it. Three more appeared over the edge, Charlie impaling one with a sword and kicking it back, sending it flying. Jessica's right claw grabbed one around the waist, before she swung it round to smash it into the other. Both fell back down, clawing mindlessly at the air.

"We can't stay here forever." Jessica cursed as the number of endoskeletons appearing over the edge began to slowly increase, the sound of metallic claws scratching against plaster growing into a storm. "We need to move, and we need to do it _fast_."

"The building opposite?" Charlie asked her uncertainly as Jessica nodded. "Alright. I jump, you grapple. On three. One…two…" An endoskeleton suddenly bounded over the ledge, eyes flashing wildly as it charged towards them. Charlie raised her blade, firing a springlock into its skull, causing its head to detonate into tiny pieces of machinery. "…three!" The springs in her legs coiled before releasing, as she bounced over the heads of the metal skeletons. A few looked back, screeching as they saw their target move away. Jessica followed her, grappling onto the roof.

Charlie raised both blades, rapidly firing springlocks into the crowd. She didn't bother aiming; there were so many of them that any effort would have been pointless. A few of the metal skeletons still climbing the wall attempted to reach out for her, losing their grasp and accidentally falling into the swarm on the street. She looked around wildly, confused.

"Why isn't William here?" She wondered out loud. "The gauntlet told me that he was fighting the metal men. Unless…" Panic seized her as she realised what might be going on. "…there could be more than one group."

"Shit!" Jessica growled, as the endoskeletons latched onto the wall, much like the last building. "We've gotta group them all together. Gather them all into one place, confine them. That way we at last know where they are."

"Agreed." Charlie replied, firing a springlock into the crowd as she spoke, the projectile slamming into the hand of a climbing endoskeleton. It beeped furiously as it fell, gnashing its teeth. "I doubt there are too many groups. There's a chance that it's just this group and the one with William – oh, shit."

"What is it?" Jessica asked, as Charlie momentarily stopped firing, before starting up again just as quickly.

"I asked the gauntlet about William, and it said that he was fighting the 'metal men'. Then I asked where, and it said the police station, which is where we're at. But I asked it about the metal men, not William. Shit. It must need specific orders to follow what I want it to do."

"Well, that's a shit show by itself." Jessica murmured. A wave of endoskeletons managed to get to the roof, arms clapping lazily over ledge. Charlie raised her right arm, making a fist. Instantly all five metal skeletons were flung back by an unseen force, screeching the whole way down. "Any idea how to group them together? Actually, scratch that; how do we even know where the other group is?"

"I could always ask the gauntlet." Charlie pointed out, firing a springlock. "It's the easiest way, and it's fast."

"Then do it." Jessica said, both claws extending before slamming into an endoskeleton. It flew backwards, flailing and screaming. "Just make sure you ask it the right question." Charlie closed her eyes, focusing on her question. _'Where is William?'_ she asked it, as the remnant went to work. _'The place where all of this started.'_ It replied, before going silent. Charlie's eyes snapped open as a multitude of endoskeletons appeared over the wall.

"He's at Freddy's." She said shakily, as Jessica turned towards her. "We gotta go. _Now_." Her friend nodded, grappling after her as she bounded over the heads of the endos. Instantly the army began to follow, changing their direction within seconds. Their shining red eyes tracked her hungrily as they charged forwards, sometimes tripping over and being crushed by their comrades. But none of that mattered; all that mattered was killing Charlie Stillwater.

Charlie ignored the wave of robots behind her as she bounded forwards, Jessica swinging along beside her. While her body was there, her mind was somewhere else. Freddy's. The place where this had all begun. Where William had slain children. Where Charlie had seen Freddy's eyes light up. Where a genocidal feud had ceased, thanks to Michael Afton. Where so many restless spirit dwelled, waiting to be released back into the world. Hungry. Afraid. All grouped together, yet still alone.

What had Brandon felt when he'd switched on for Sam? When his spirit had retaken that body, an old soul in a child's form, taking Bonnie's shell like he had all those years ago; what had happened? Why had the others not come back on? Why hadn't they turned themselves on as soon as they arrived? Though Charlie was nowhere close to an understanding of the spiritual world, she was still frustrated at things which should have been easy. William and Henry's discovery of remnant, while ground-breaking, was still only scratching the surface of the soul's potential. How could it affect the world? Could they prevent global warming? Cause disasters to cease, stop conflicts in the blink of an eye? In the end, it was all theoretical; she would know nothing until she died.

When she and Jessica reached Freddy's, the sight was breathtaking. Hundreds of Abaddon's robots were swarming the building, some climbing on top, others charging inside while a few simply milled about on the perimeter, as if forming a barrier. Standing in the middle of it all was Abaddon, his shadowy tendrils flailing in the air with a sense of authority. His smile was sickening as he surveyed his forces, all fighting to get inside. The ones on the roof were trying to break through, but had made no progress for the past three minutes. William and the Phantom Scourge weren't visible; they were probably inside. Charlie and Jessica set themselves down on the road, hearts pounding as Abaddon motioned towards the building, signalling for more robots to enter. There was no way to get inside without getting torn apart. They had to bring the fight outside of the building. And Charlie could only think of one way to do that.

"Abaddon!" She yelled at the top her voice. Jessica glared at her as the demon king's head swivelled around, tendrils tensing in the air. He laughed when he saw her, taking a few steps forward.

"So you actually came." He chuckled, as he saw the other half of his army following behind the two girls, chasing after them ravenously. "Stop that." He snapped, as they instantly came to a halt. All of the endoskeletons, while devoid of true emotions, almost seemed to cower away from Abaddon as he strode towards them, eyes glowing like headlights. "Why did you come? To hand yourself over? Or did you come here under the illusions that you could defeat me, save your little city?" He laughed wickedly as motioned towards every directions, tendrils rising in the air. "This is not _your_ city. It never was, and it never will be. This city belongs to _nobody_ , other than _me_! It was mine from the day I met your father and made that deal with him! It was mine from the day I saw you playing with your stupid building blocks, looking up at me and asking that stupid question of yours!"

"If this city truly belongs to you, then how could you allow this to happen to it?" Charlie asked him furiously. "How could you allow it to be overrun by criminals, men who seek to harm others? Murderers, drug dealers, rapists, the lot! How could you let that happen, if this city is yours?! _Why_ would you let that happen?!"

"You. Know. _Nothing_!" Abaddon screeched, rising into the air with the power of his darkness. "You know nothing of this world, its people, even this city! A city in which you grew up, listening to those stupid songs sung by mechanical bears and synthetic bunny rabbits; all of those good things from your childhood, they happened because I _allowed_ them to happen! _I_ allowed this world to advance, _I_ allowed these people to learn, and _I_ allowed this city to grow! All of it because of me, me, _me_!"

"Then you shouldn't have!" Charlie screamed at him. The endoskeletons took a step back, as if stung by her words. "This city, these people, they shouldn't belong to _anyone_! This feud between us which only you seem to understand – it's between you and me, no one else! If you want, tear me apart! Kill me! Torture me! Do whatever you need to do, but leave my city out of it! Hurricane doesn't belong to you, monster! It belongs to the people!" Abaddon frowned, positioning his tendrils so that they looked ready to lunge out at her. Shadows swirled around him as he stepped forwards, raising a hand into the air.

"Only when I'm gone." He hissed back, before making a fist. Instantly the tides of endoskeletons rushed forwards, crashing into each other as they reached out, desperate to grab Charlie. She curse, bounding over their heads firing several springlocks into the crowd. Several of the metal skeletons fell, but it didn't change the flow of their assault. They were relentless, hardly paying attention to any blows dealt to them unless they were destroyed. As she fell down to the ground. Charlie aimed both of her blades at Abaddon, firing two springlocks at his head. Unfortunately he anticipated this, as his tendrils whipped at the projectiles, cutting them off in mid-air. "Nice try." He said, shadows flaring up around him like an aura. "But I'm not going down so easily this time."

Her eyes widened as Abaddon raised both of his arms threateningly, before firing twin streams of shadow energy towards her. She quickly dodged, using the springs in the suit's legs to bounce off of an endoskeletons face. The metal skeleton flew backwards, knocking into several others and dealing damage to their limbs. More and more skeletons were now pouring out of the pizzeria, rushing forward hungrily. A few leapt off the roof, not stopping to check for safety, resulting in several other endoskeletons being flattened. Neither William nor the Phantom Scourge were visible yet; they were probably still inside. Though, Michael could teleport; why wasn't he using that power now?

As the last of the endoskeletons left the pizzeria, Charlie could see several projectiles striking them in the backs; though she hadn't met any of the Phantom Scourge other than Michael, from what he had told her, the streaks of green were probably Sonia's bullets, and the arrows whizzing through the air were probably from Jane. Charlie decided to ignore the people currently inside the pizzeria; if she went inside, then the endoskeletons would follow. Jessica was trying her best to help, slashing at endos when she could, but there were too many of them. She had resorted to firing her armour plates at them in order to keep them at bay, knocking off arms, limbs and even heads.

Charlie slashed her blades at the skeletons as they approached, ripping through their bodies as if they were made of cloth. Nevertheless the endoskeletons still charged, determined on following the orders Michael had given them. They clawed at her mindlessly, lifeless fingers catching onto the tears in the costume as Charlie spun round, twisted through the air, firing springlocks and destroying robots with deadly, yet graceful precision. Sonia and Jane were clearly still at work, as bullets and arrows flew through the air, burying themselves in robotic limbs, striking down endoskeletons with a single blow. They still had yet to emerge from the building, but Charlie could see William standing in the doorway, gazing at the flood of bodies coldly. He held his trusty knife in his hand. The blade was now rusty, caked with dirt and the blood of his victims. All of them, twelve souls taken by the blade clutched in his hand. Throats slit, appendages slashed, bodies dismembered, faces mutilated. All by the weapon that he held. The Purple Man charged forward, slashing at endos as they tried to approach Charlie, the knife flashing in the bright red light coming from the furious eyes of the skeletons.

"Glad you could make it." She panted as he ran up to her, impaling an endo about to slash her from behind. "Where's Michael?"

"He fought Abaddon." William explained as another wave of endoskeletons approached them. "It didn't go so well; took a toll on his spiritual energy. He's resting right now, and his group is taking care of him. But he'll be up in a minute or two. Just needs to catch his breath; metaphorically, of course."

"Uh huh. We could use that help." Charlie muttered. "Jessica's not doing too well." She observed. The other girl was swamped by metal skeletons till the point she could hardly move. She was striking out at them, hitting hard, but the relentless flood was slowly drowning her, overcoming the formidable defence she had put up so far.

Charlie raised her blades up, firing springlocks in Jessica's general directions. Each projectile hit a mark, swiftly dealing with the endoskeletons who had been climbing on top of her. Jessica gave her a grateful nod, before jumping up, using her plates to push herself off the ground. She flew through the air, somehow landing next to Charlie and William on her two feet.

"Thanks." She breathed, before sending several armoured plates into the crowd, pushing the endos back and forming a wall. The staff clutched in her hand was an effective weapon while fighting just a few enemies, but it wouldn't do much against an army. Every time a skeleton attempted to climb over her wall, she simply jabbed it in the head, causing it to fall back, now useless. Charlie and William defended her flanks, while Sonia and Jane continued their never ending storm of projectiles.

The good news? Jessica wasn't getting swamped anymore. The bad news? Abaddon had noticed. As the small group of three continued to fight against his army, the demon king approached them, levitating off the ground with his shadows, glaring at them hatefully. While he had expected a fight, the three had proven much more difficult to handle than he had anticipated. They were fighting against his endoskeletons with ease; Charlie wasn't even using her springlocks any more. And the stupid golden bear hadn't even recovered from his battle; as soon as he did, there was a chance that Abaddon would be defeated. And he couldn't let that happen.

Suddenly Martin burst out of the pizzeria, his bladed flails flaming as he struck out at robots on his way towards the group. Charlie couldn't see his face from behind the charred Puppet mask that he wore, but he sounded happy.

"Michael's going to be up soon." He told them, lashing out at an endoskeleton and kicking it backwards. The machine squealed, accidentally striking another next to it and knocking off its head. "It won't be much longer; after that, we can deal with the big bad." Charlie gave him a distracted nod, not bothering to reply. Martin didn't seem to be offended as he joined them, dodging a robot's arm and knocking its head off with one of his flails.

Abaddon roared at the group, charging at them as his tendrils whipped back and forth. Charlie gulped as she saw him flying towards them, memories playing through her mind. The endoskeleton standing in the rain, the same machine chained to the wall, twitching every second in unnatural surges. Her looking into its burning silver eyes, and asking it the question 'Does it hurt?' The distraction proved to be critical as one of his shadowy tendrils struck her in the chest, sending her flying into the wall of the pizzeria.

"Charlie!" Jessica lunged at Abaddon, who playfully twisted out of the way before striking her down with another one of his tendrils. Martin was dealt with in a similar manner, while William simply teleported away, knowing that he had no hope of winning a battle against the demon. Abaddon stalked towards Charlie's unmoving body as she began to stir, blinking at him as she saw the massive endoskeleton–

– _twitch unnaturally, body spasming as he–_

–took another step towards her, foot planting into the ground. He turned his head to the side, eyes–

– _burning silver, glaring at her with ferocity. He twitched again, almost as if he was struggling to escape the chains which restrained him to the wall, but they didn't give. He yelled–_

–aggressively, gnashing his teeth. The shadowy tendrils which spurted out from his back seemed to move faster, lashing at the air in random directions, not bothering to see who they were hitting. There was no point anymore, because–

– _her father lay there, dead, the pool of crimson liquid slowly spreading on the floor, seeping through the wooden floorboards and forever staining the carpet. The light flickered as she walked forwards, reaching out and crying–_

–"No! No! Please, no!" Abaddon suddenly halted his advancement as he watched Charlie curiously. The girl lay there on the floor, twitching every few seconds, almost as if she were imitating him, all those years ago. Every time she twitched she let out a cry, as if in pain. But it wasn't anything physical; it was all in her mind. She was scared sure, but not of him, the demon king, standing before her with shadowy tendrils of darkness which could impale humans and kill them in seconds. She was scared of him, the helpless endoskeleton, the one chained to the corner of the room, who twitched unnaturally, filled her nightmares and forced her to ask 'Does it hurt?' He wondered then, if it had been only him. Had she felt it as well? The pain, the suffering, seeping into her bones, not hurting physically, but making her want to scream in the middle of the night as memories and emotions invaded her mind? Had she? Was she like him?

But he never got to her – at that moment, Michael barrelled out of the pizzeria, throwing his spiked microphone into Abaddon's chest. The demon king skidded back from the force of the blow, cursing as the weapon flew back into the golden bear's outstretched hand. His eyes glowed unnaturally, tiny pinpricks of light being the only thing that indicated he could see at all. At that moment he grinned, as the rest of his body fell to the ground, leaving only his head. At once it began to increase in size, Michael's hollow laughter emitting from the head, before it charged towards the demon at full speed.

Abaddon didn't have time to get out of the way as he was hit by the golden bear head. The endoskeleton flew back several metres before regaining his balance, whipping a tentacle at Michael's enormous head. The bear easily dodged, before biting onto his ankle. Abaddon screeched, attempting to kick him off, but to no avail. Finally he resorted to using one of his tendrils to attack the head, only to realise it was no longer there. He looked around in confusion, before the bear appeared behind him, the gaping maw swallowing him whole. Abaddon clawed at the sides, trying his best to fight his way out of his prison, but Michael stubbornly kept his mouth shut, barely budging. Finally the demon readied all four of his tendrils, before sending them all flying into the top of the bear's head. Michael must have been shocked, because his jaw opened just long enough for Abaddon to slip outside, flying away quickly as his body burst with energy.

The bear howled, charging at him again; but this time, Abaddon was ready. He darted quickly to the side, sending a bolt of darkness towards Michael as he dodged. The head suddenly twisted in mid-air, as if reacting to the pain. The golden bear quickly shot back, as Abaddon readied another bolt, firing it as Michael opened his mouth. It entered the head, causing a mini explosion as smoke poured out of the costume's eye sockets. Abaddon grinned, as he managed to get the upper hand on the bear. This fight would be no longer than the last; except that as soon as the thought went through his mind, the demon king promptly received a spiked microphone to the face. He whirled around in shock, not believing his eyes.

While Michael had taken the form of an enormous head, his body was still standing, acting by itself. It rushed forwards, jumping upwards and grabbing onto Abaddon's foot. The demon kicked against the ground, forcing the costume into the sea of mindless endoskeletons. The army had lost a significant number of endoskeletons, but there were still a good hundred or so standing; more than enough to rip the bear to shreds. Yet, as they descended upon the body, teeth gnashing and biting into the fabric, no rips or tears were made. Abaddon watched in amazement as the body rose up, grabbing the spiked microphone and smashing it into an endoskeleton head. Michael took the opportunity of Abaddon's distraction to swallow him again.

The demon king screeched in outrage, firing random bolts of darkness at the inside of the bear's head. He opened his mouth again, but as Abaddon tried to slide out again, a piercing shot rang through the air. A springlock drilled into the demon's forehead, causing him to gasp. He looked at the pizzeria, eyes widening. Charlie was standing, supported by one of her blades, while the other was aimed towards him, the barrel still smoking. He couldn't see her expression behind the green rabbit mask, but she was probably smiling.

At that moment Michael bit down again, severing the upper half of Abaddon's body from his legs. He yelled angrily as he fell to the ground, his army of endoskeletons instantly halting around him. Closing his eyes, the demon concentrated before his consciousness left his body. It took the form of an enormous, shadowy man as he rose to his inhuman height. He swiftly jumped into the crowd of robots, instantly merging to another one. He opened his eyes, wincing at the sudden shift. This endoskeleton's legs seemed a little shorter than normal, but otherwise it seemed alright.

Charlie ran towards the remaining endoskeletons, heart pounding. Skeletal bodies now lay strewn across the battlefield like fallen leaves in autumn. She suddenly felt the spotlight of a news helicopter on her. She paused briefly to flip her middle finger at the camera, before continuing her charge. The robots screeched, beginning to charge towards her as Abaddon's new body rose into the air, the shadows beginning to grow by the second. Charlie wielded her blades expertly, slicing off limbs and heads, impaling bodies with single swift motions.

Abaddon fired a bolt of darkness at her, which she quickly dodged before kicking an endoskeleton into the projectile, destroying it. Michael's body still stood in the centre of all the action, slamming his microphone into endoskeleton bodies, not faltering in the slightest. Charlie used the springs in her legs to bound over several skeletons, landing next to Michael and creating a mini shockwave, pushing several of the bots back a few feet, a few even falling. The ones that staggered were quick to be stampeded as the other trampled them under their feet. Charlie raised her right arm above her head, making a fist. Instantly the gauntlet went to work, throwing several robots back.

Meanwhile, Abaddon was still locked in combat with Michael's head. The bear had finally learnt that swallowing wasn't a good move; however, he'd made up for it by coming up with an even more annoying tactic; chewing. Abaddon had lost three bodies ever since the bear had begun biting instead of charging and swallowing. He cursed as he pulled his leg back, kicking Michael's muzzle as he made attempts to snap his limbs off. Instead, he found himself careering into one of Sonia's well placed bullets, the swift projectile making a hole in his head, causing the mechanisms to detonate. Another body lost.

The demon quickly switched to another, only for it to be destroyed in a matter of seconds by Michael's berserk body; he seemed to have lost his mic somehow, but he was swinging his arms wildly, knocking off heads whenever he could. Jessica and Martin were both beginning to get off of the ground, pushing themselves up wearily. Abaddon eyed them menacingly, before Charlie crashed into him. The number of remaining endoskeletons he could switch to was dwindling. There were less and less with each passing minute, more and more skeletal bodies piled on the ground. And the idiots in the helicopter were still filming all of it. She could only pray that they weren't getting any audio.

"So this is what it's come to, huh, Charlie?!" Abaddon cackled gleefully, sending bolts of darkness towards Michael's head. Each one struck its mark, causing him to spin out of control before falling to the floor with a heavy thud, his body falling alongside it. "Me and you, like all those years ago. Aren't we a pretty site, ay?"

"Shut your trap." She growled at him, evoking a low pitched laugh.

"Was that a pun?"

"Not at all." She answered, firing twin springlocks at his body, shattering his hip. The demon king quickly shifted once again, albeit sluggishly. The amount of remaining endoskeletons was barely over 30. Nowhere near enough to defeat the determined vigilantes; even so, there was still a chance he could do more damage. Concentrating, he closed his eyes, aware that this was probably the last chance he would get. He wasn't about to just screw this up. No way.

The explosion took them all by surprise. The endoskeletons were lying in ruins. Abaddon was almost out of bodies to run to. They almost had him. But he was never going to give up. Not to them. A massive, dark burst of shadows erupted from Abaddon's body, bolts of darkness firing in random directions like pieces shrapnel. The demon let out a guttural roar, the noise piercing Charlie's eardrums as it rolled over the parking lot. The bolts struck her, along with everyone else with unbelievable force, knocking them all backwards, sending them flying like leaves in the wind. Charlie screamed as one of the bolts hit her hard in the stomach, causing her to keel over after landing. Abaddon continued to roar, the waves of shadows never-ending, bursting outwards relentlessly. He tipped his head back, eyes beginning to glow even brighter than before, shining through the dark vortex of shadows swirling around him.

"This is me!" He screamed at no one in particular, laughing as the pulses grew stronger and more aggressive, contorting monstrously. "This is what I am, Charlie! Not that stupid, frail, weakling of an endoskeleton who twitched around in the corner of your father's garage! No, I am THIS! Abaddon! King of all Demons on Earth! The one who made that promise to your father! I said to him, 'Henry, I'll make sure Charlie steers away from trouble. You don't need to be worried; I'll look after her.' But those idiots at the lab…they stopped me. They supressed me, and didn't even know. But when they released me, I made a _new_ promise. To stop all the shit you've caused in this world. Me and my partner, we planned for weeks, even months, but it was all worth it! I broke my first promise, but I'm going to keep this one! And my next, and my next! That's going to be the _last_ , of my promises, that I break."

"K-King of Demons?" Charlie stuttered as she struggled to get back onto her feet. "You're telling me…demons are real?" Abaddon shot her a look of glee, the pulses of darkness momentarily calming.

"What did you think I was? A military superweapon? In some ways that's true, but they should have known not to trust Afton when he told them to summon me. I mean, he looks like a madman at his very core."

"Michael?" Charlie stared at him in disbelief at his words. "Michael Afton did this? _He_ summoned you?!"

"You seem surprised. You know him?" Abaddon asked her. But she didn't answer; her thoughts were flying through her head, information reshuffling itself. Michael Afton. The one who'd given her the Springtrap head, the instrument of death he'd used to murder his own father. The one who'd asked her to take it _as a favour_. If he had any intention of keeping to that, he owed her. So why was he trying to kill her.

"He was the one who gave me this damn head in the first place!" The demon king froze, the waves dying completely as silence washed over them. He couldn't believe it. That man, who had told him about Charlie's misdeeds…he'd started it?

"That son of a bitch." He muttered, fists clenched. "He fucking told me…" Abaddon clutched at his head, screeching incoherently. "He told me you were out of control!" He roared, tendrils whipping at the bodies of his army of endoskeletons. "He told me _you_ were wicked, evil and unstable!"

"And what do _you_ believe?" Charlie asked him. The demon king froze, pondering for a moment before he answered her.

"I believe that he lied to me. Hid things from me." He said, looking Charlie in the eye. "But I think he was right about you."

"Oh, so _I'm_ the one who's messed up in the head, huh?" She glared at him angrily, slowly rising to her full height. "I'm not sure what to think, considering that that opinion comes from the guy who built an army to kill _one person_!"

"Why can't you just give in?!" He screeched, raising his tendrils threateningly. "Henry did, when I ended him." Charlie staggered backwards, shocked. "I suspected you wouldn't have recognised me." He admitted, almost sounding bored. "Considering your father was there, and I was just the stupid robot he'd built to kill him. But did you _really_ think he made me a body just so I could take his miserable life?"

"You son of a bitch!" She screamed at him, raising both blades and firing a stream of springlocks at his currently unprotected body. "You killed my dad!" Abaddon staggered backwards as the projectiles buried themselves into his endoskeleton. He had to be careful now; his attack had destroyed all of his other skeletons. There were no more bodies for him to run to. He jumped to the side, tendrils lashing at Charlie, though she quickly jumped over them, flipping above his head, before driving her twin blades downwards. The endoskeleton leapt backwards, sending bolts of dark energy towards her. One struck her arm, but she just grimaced, charging through as if nothing had happened.

Abaddon's eyes narrowed as he raised his arm, charging up his shadow energy. However, Charlie saw the move, ducking and rolling as the stream of darkness soared over her head, hitting the side of the pizzeria. She quickly got up, flipping in mid-air and kicking Abaddon in the chest. He swiped at her with his right claw, missing by centimetres as she bounded upwards once again. He scowled as she began shooting springlocks at him without pause, eyes cold and stony. The razor sharp projectiles managed to hit him every time, despite his best efforts to dodge them. His tendrils whirled around, intercepting a few, but not enough to prevent serious damage.

Before he knew what was going on, Charlie landed next to him, slicing off his body at the waist. At once his torso fell backwards with his arms and head attached, while his legs stood there, planted into the ground by his claws. She stalked towards him, blade outstretched as he attempted to hit her with his tendrils. However, they lay on the ground, cold and unmoving, as if they were dead. He looked towards her, eyes flashing.

"So maybe I was wrong." He muttered. "Perhaps you _are_ protecting this city."

"Damn right." She scowled, raising her sword into the air and firing several springlocks. Abaddon looked at her in confusion, before realising she was attempting to scare the new helicopter away. "They shouldn't need to see this." She said, frowning. "They shouldn't have to know that monsters like you exist."

"They've already seen it all." Abaddon growled back, closing his eyes. "Well? Are you going to destroy my body already?" Charlie just chuckled, shaking her head.

"No. You killed my dad. You really think I'd let you off that easily? No, I'm going to do something else. I wonder, what happens when I destroy something with you still in it? Will you die, or will you just feel huge levels of pain?" A look of worry painted over Abaddon's face as she smirked, placing the gauntlet onto his forehead. She muttered two words, so softly that Abaddon could only barely hear them. But they carried all the malice in the world in them, purely composed of her own hatred towards him. For filling her nightmares. For killing her father. And now, for trying to destroy the city which she loved. And she wasn't going to let him get away so easily. Not this time.

"End him." Instantly, Abaddon began to shriek in pain as the remnant in the gauntlet followed its simple command, ensnaring his spirit and binding it to the machine. He could feel his shadows being supressed, crushing into each other until they felt minuscule, useless. The power of spirits crushing his body grew to be unbearable as his arms flailed wildly, head jerking in random directions. And then, suddenly, the endoskeleton was still.

Charlie watched, unmoving and disinterested as the last of Abaddon's shadows died out. She gave the demon's temporary body a nonchalant shrug, before turning towards her friends and allies. All of them gaped at her actions, but she ignored them, brushing past as she walked towards Freddy's with a scowl on her face. She stopped as she stared at the building, tilting her head slowly as the rest of her friends followed after her, keeping their distance. However, Jessica and William both went to join her, walking silently with their heads down. Charlie welcomed their company as Jessica put a hand on her shoulder. This wouldn't be the end that Abaddon had foreseen; this was only a new beginning, an opportunity to start anew.

"So…" Charlie chuckled darkly, looking up at the sign hovering over the once jolly and brightly lit restaurant. "…the Fazbear Curse continues."

-End Tape-


	16. Epilogue

**Well here's your epilogue. The** _ **official**_ **end to the story.**

 **To DinoGirlJ:**

 **Well, your review didn't actually appear on the site, but I got an email containing it :). So uh, thanks a lot. Hope you'll keep reading my other content :D**

 **I want to thank you guys all so much for the support; it's been incredible. I'm glad I can finally say this story is COMPLETE! I can finally set the status to–**

 **Oh, who cares? Anyways, like I said in the previous chapter, the sequel is going to take time. Strangers But in Dreams has to be finished first. In the meantime, Let Me Breath will be my main priority after I have written Ch2 of Babylon, and completed the first arc of Tears That Scar (think of the TTS arcs as individual stories, guys. There'll be a break on that story after it's done). Afterwards, Strangers But in Dreams will continue, and then we'll have the sequel. It's a huge plan and I'm probably in over my head, but eh. It'll be alright in the end. It'll just take a shit ton of time.**

 **Now, please enjoy the epilogue. Don't be mad at me. There will be fan games as part of the plot of the sequel.**

 **Now, since is the last chapter…**

 **Goodbye for reals! (And I'll hopefully see you next time!)**

 **Epilogue**

Charlie pulled her hair back as she leaned against the wall of her room, staring out the window. The sunset was casting warm glows into her room, as she smiled at Theodore. The rabbit sat in his wicker chair, not returning the smile as his head suddenly drooped down, attached by only one or two threads. Charlie shrugged nonchalantly, then returned her gaze to the window.

Somewhere downstairs an object cluttered to the floor, followed by Jessica shouting a long string of curses. Charlie allowed herself to laugh, as Stanley the unicorn finally came to a halt on his track, squeaking loudly.

"You need a new coat of paint, Stanley." She muttered, not even facing him. She'd said the same phrase at least three times in the past ten minutes, as she stared out the window. It had been only three weeks since Abaddon's attempt to murder her. The media had managed to capture most of the fight on video, which had quickly went viral over the next few weeks. Carlton had already called her just to make sure she was okay, before screaming at her over the phone about how she was insane. That was okay though; insane was good in times like these, when nothing seemed real.

"I wonder how many demons are out there." She thought aloud, tilting her head as she walked over to the sill, sliding the window open to allow a cool breeze to flow through her room. Charlie sighed, contented as she sat down on her bed, eyes on her bedroom door. Someone was thudding up the stairs; probably Jessica, considering it sounded as if she had just dropped something.

Her theory turned out to be correct, as her friend burst into her room, not bothering to knock. Her face was emotionless as she talked, eyes unmoving.

"William said he wanted to see you." She told her, before quickly heading back down the stairs. Charlie gave Theodore one last look before she followed Jessica down the stairs, eyeing the dark stain on the floor. She wondered why Abaddon had killed her father. Anger? Fun? _Ethics_? Considering that he seemed loyal to him, she couldn't figure out why.

Jessica opened the basement door, standing by as she gave Charlie a go-ahead-without-me look, along with a casual toss of her head. Charlie nodded, smiling at her before heading down the stairs. William was standing in the darkness of the basement, his purple rags now stained with both blood and oil. He was looking at a set of blueprints rolled out in of him, though from her position she couldn't tell what they were for. Upon hearing her walking down the stairs, the Purple Man raised his head, waving at her before dropping his arm.

"Come here." Charlie obeyed, trudging wordlessly down the concrete steps before making her way to his side. She frowned as she looked at the blueprints; they were of the Springtrap suit, except they looked ever so slightly different. The mechanisms in her legs looked slightly smaller for one thing, while the head had been altered to fit around her head better.

"What is this?" She asked him. Though he had no face, she could tell he would be grinning if he did.

"An upgraded version of the suit. I call it Dark Springtrap."

 **xXx**

Max Donovan lifted up his head, groaning softly as he heard the doorbell ring. He looked down at his desk, realising that he'd fallen asleep while working. He'd been rereading the Freddy Files, reviewing the information with the possible connections to The Scourge and the Phantom Scourge. Though not much had turned up, he had discovered a few links concerning the Springtrap suit. It had been used at an earlier location called Fredbear's Family Diner; he hadn't heard of it before the previous night, likely due to it being located in New Harmony. The restaurant had closed years ago, but he'd found a couple of interesting related newspaper articles; something about the owner's child being kidnapped on Halloween. He'd had two kids, apparently. A girl and a boy. But the article hadn't actually specified which one of them had been kidnapped. If the kids were still alive, they'd be around 18. He would probably be able to find them; they'd be his first suspect regarding Springtrap's identity.

Shaking his head sleepily the man rose from his chair, yawning as he opened the door. His eyes opened in surprise when he saw a familiar face. It was Officer Dunn standing in his doorway, surprisingly in casual clothes.

"Max Donovan." He greeted. "It's been a while."

"Indeed it has, _Officer_." Max grunted in reply, standing back so Dunn could walk in. "What do you want, Dunn? You turn up here years after we last spoke; you think I'm gonna believe you wanted to have a shitty reunion?"

"I know you're smarter than that." Dunn snorted. "You're a paranormal investigator now, I hear. How's that going for you?" He gave the other man a smirk, waiting patiently for an answer.

"Like you give a shit." Max closed the door, leading Dunn to his table where the files still lay. The Officer eyed them for a moment, before taking a seat. Max took his usual spot, sipping his mug of cold coffee. "Now, what can I do for you?"

"I hear you've found another link between Freddy's and The Scourge." Dunn stated, prompting Max to give him a quick nod. "And while that's all well and good, I've found a more pressing matter. One which needs to be resolved quickly. We don't want more horror stories to take root in this city. Recent events, unseen by most, even The Scourge, have begun to stir up trouble." He took out three pictures from his pocket, tossing them onto the table. Three robotic anthropomorphic animals stared up at Dunn with lifeless eyes. The first was a blue and white cat, sporting a bright red tie and the pointed fangs. Its triangular ears were perked up, alert. The next was a brown rodent which Max could only liken to a weasel. A top hat similar to Freddy Fazbear's was perched on top of its head, while it gazed at the camera with a downward tilt almost aggressively, piercing green eyes almost appearing to be glowing. The third and final image was of a red bee, two short antennas poking out of its head at a slight angle, with a white chef's hat standing between them. The bee's eyes, unlike the other two animatronics', were dark and empty, completely devoid of life.

"You see," Dunn said as he motioned towards the animatronic animals, "Freddy's wasn't the only place with a dark history."

–To be continued in _Stage 02: Shadows of the Deepscape_ –


End file.
